


Rust Colored Paladin

by idigam



Series: Shattered Mirror [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Culture, Brutality, Galra Culture, Galra Empire, Galra Keith (Voltron), Galran Soldier Keith (Voltron), Gen, General Keith (Voltron), enemies to tentative allies, like seriously if the last fic didn't give it away Darth Keith is not a nice person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-07-02 16:52:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15800679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idigam/pseuds/idigam
Summary: Darth Keith vs the Paladins of Voltron





	1. Escape from Earth and Life With Sendak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A view into the events leading up to the first real fight Team Voltron has to face.

Shiro felt the escape pod lurch underneath him, felt the descent to earth. When the doors open and he stumbles out he collapses. He’s in the middle of the desert, he has to find someone, he can’t die, he has to find someone to help, they’re coming, the Galra are coming. The stuff of nightmares hunting for a weapon, hunting for Voltron.

 

How does he know this? He can’t remember, he only knows he needs to warn them.

 

Then the Garrison trucks arrive, he smiles, then the hazmat team disembarks, his arm activates and with a pulse he knocks them off their feet. “No, stop, you don’t understand!”

 

He’s tackled, he’s weak from captivity from the crash, from any number of things he can’t remember.

****

 

 

Sendak’s flag ship is, big, and complex, it’s the first time he’s had free reign or somewhat free reign, of a dreadnought. Lotor’s frigate was larger and better equipped than most, not because he’s the prince, well not entirely because he’s the prince, Lotor adopts any useful tech, strategy, or weapon from those they conquer.

  
Even so a frigate is much smaller than even the smallest battle cruiser. The first people he meets are Haxus, and Sendak, neither of whom he particularly likes.

 

Sendak is constantly barking orders and pejoratives like the childish bully he thinks he’s above being.

 

Haxus is worse, he outranks Haxus but that doesn’t stop the sub-commander, more like glorified secretary, from running to Sendak whenever he feels Keith’s being too mean to him.

 

Is it any wonder Keith gravitates to the only other non-sentry life form on board?

 

Merla wasn’t kidding, her great nephew Kajier is definitely a cold aloof scientist. He at first seemed to tolerate Keith and barely at that.

 

Keith however has learned to be patient, and silent, and unobtrusive.

 

Eventually Kajier not only grew to accept his presence in his lab but also relish it. Ranting and raving like a mad scientist about all the things he could “do with their sentries if he just had the resources!” And that Sendak refuses to give him more than “the absolute basics and how is he expected to research one of the most advanced pieces of technology in the history of the universe when he’s forced to work with lublum gum and string!”

 

Neither would admit to being anything other than “allies in hostile territory.”

 

(They’re friends, friends by necessity but friends all the same.)

 

So maybe if Keith called in the favor he’d built with Fiora during his coming of age ceremony to secure an extra shipment during their last resource drop, no one commented.

  
Well Haxus commented, or more accurately Haxus whined, a lot.

 

Keith did not punch him, and he’s very proud of that fact, whatever uncle Thace might say about his impulse control a deca-phoeb on this ship has taught him many wondrous things about self control.

 

Maybe a short time after those extra parts came a new sentry appeared, one with advanced adaptive AI and a couple very interesting weapons, and programmed to be a loyal second to Keith.

 

Keith named it Niex, because that’s what you do with things like this.

****

 

 

Okay if Lance and Hunk are going to be here the least they could do is make themselves useful and help her get Shiro out of here. She decides to hack the auto steering of a couple of the Garrison cars, along with the drones they brought to scope the place out for radiation.

 

The drones were a distraction, Lance is the rescue team, though he’s mostly just there to trip up the guards while she frees Shiro who, okay he’s injured but that arm packs a scary punch.

  
Shiro’s different, she can tell, his year in space, which is now clearly a year spent as an alien prisoner, has hardened him in ways she probably doesn’t want to know about.

 

Hunk makes a surprisingly good get away driver, no one wants to spend the night in a burnt out shack in the middle of the desert, but it’s not like any of them have a choice.

 

Pidge breaks and talks about the energy signature she’s been monitoring. Hunk identifies it as a Fraunhofer line and that he can probably whip up something to track it. Which given all the Garrison tech they accidentally stole with their getaway car isn’t too difficult.

  
There’s also the stuff she intentionally stole from them but no one needs to know about that just yet.

 

Lance identifies the line as a rock ridge, because apparently her and Hunk “spending time as tech buddies left him a lot of time to be bored out of his skull.”

 

Which led to him exploring local landmarks and becoming a minor history nerd. Shiro’s actually kind of proud of Lance, because they’re both history nerds, and now Lance wont stop preening.

  
Because “did you hear that Shiro just complimented me!”

 

“Yes Lance, I did hear you the first fifty times, and yes I will hear you next fifty,” Pidge growls, the things she does for family.

****

 

 

Keith is not happy, he’s maintained contact with Zwiel in order to gauge what’s been going on in House Hazar. Apparently his grandam thought to leave out the fact that Takashi had been captured by Emara, he now knows that the scar across Takashi’s nose was his cousin being a territorial bitch and not the Arena.

 

Okay sure maybe the man only spoke to him like once and he’d been so embarrassed he let that bit about being from Earth slip he cut off what could have been an actual conversation. And sure it wasn’t like he owned Takashi, no the Imperial Arena (then Merla or maybe Haggar owned him) but dammit Takashi was still _his_ human.

 

Emara had no right, okay she had every right according to the laws of acquisition, but STILL! Keith’s glad he wears his helmet whenever he’s not locked up in his room, because he’s pouting, he’s well aware he’s pouting. If this had been Thace or Dorma or Ancestors forbid Lotor or any of the generals they’d have known he was pouting.

 

Seriously, What the ever loving quiznak Emara?

 

The one highlight is that he’s finally been given the opportunity to get a peek at what Sendak’s been guarding.

 

It’s a lion of Voltron, it’s the Red Lion of Voltron.

  
Sendak, and by extension Zarkon, has been sitting on the Red quiznaking Lion of Voltron.

 

The energy of the lion fills the hangar, it’s soothing, like he’s finally allowed to scratch an itch he’s had but been unable to reach his whole life.

 

So what if he starts talking to it the same way Kajier talks at him, it’s his down time and no one can prove otherwise.

 

Except Kajier, because he walked in on Keith when he’d come to take readings.

****

 

 

Kajier moves his lab to the hangar because why not? If Keith’s going to hang out here and talk to the lion, then it would be more efficient to just have everything in one place.

 

While he may not display emotions readily that doesn’t mean he is without them. The minute Haxus walks in the sub-commander has both Keith and himself glaring at him until he feels awkward and leaves.

 

If Kajier didn’t know better, which in fairness he doesn’t, he could have sworn the lion had also glared at Haxus.

 

The thought brings him a small amount of joy.

 

That is until Sendak bans Keith from the hangar officially.

 

Keith for his part does not respect the edict, but doesn’t go out of his way to antagonize Sendak or Haxus.

 

Though if Niex happens to be in the same area both commander and sub-commander find their luck taking turns for the worse.

 

He’s legitimately pleased that Keith seems to work out his frustrations by testing just how adaptive Niex’s AI is.

 

Namely by getting into war games and mock dogfights with the sentry, which has been learning to pilot at a pace that’s been fascinating and has Kajier positively salivating with the possibilities.

****

 

 

Lance is having the best day of his life, they managed to save his hero Shiro (heh, Shiro his hero) but now he’s piloting one very advanced piece of alien technology it’s like the universe is finally giving him a shot.

 

He even manages to attack and then outrun an alien battleship!

 

“I bet there’s no pilot in the verse that can take me on in Blue here.”

 

It’s the last thing he says before they enter the wormhole.

****

 

 

Emara is not happy to be called away from the front to deal with some sort of idiotic family conflict.

 

She’s especially unhappy to learn her father antagonized it.

 

She’s extremely unhappy to find out that her half-breed cousin is in Sendak’s court undermining her and that this fight was started because her father had reacted to the news instead of letting her handle it.

 

Instead of even telling her about it.

 

What breaks the camels back and has her telling her father “go back to Prorok’s fleet, listen to Thace and stop whining like an insipid kitten.” Is when she finds out that the sub-commander she left in charge of going through the system she found the Champion in managed to find, and then lose a quiznaking lion of Voltron.

 

“I am going to take a nice hot shower, then I am going to burn a system, then I am going to take a nap.” She says to her immediate subordinate.

 

Zarkon himself had ordered her sub-commander to capture the lion. And he failed.

  
“I might just burn two systems.”

****

 

 

Not that Keith doesn’t find his cousin’s tantrum amusing he does wish his uncle would stay on task. “Uncle, send this to General Acxa, this data is important and I can’t do it myself because Haxus is monitoring where my outgoing transmissions are going. The fact that Kajier encrypted them is the only reason the brown nosing little snoop isn’t listening in right now.”

 

He probably should find it suspicious that shortly after he sends that transmission he finds an intruder in Red’s hanger. But there’s an intruder her, an armed intruder, which is something Keith hasn’t had a chance to enjoy in phoebs.

 

Luckily he’s not supposed to be here so his visits are irregular, the intruder clearly managed to map the patrol patterns.

  
The intruder has been here a while.

 

The intruder Keith can sense, despite being masked, is Galra.

 

Keith smiles beneath his helmet, he draws his sword and charges.

 

The intruder is fast despite being large, the fight is drawn out, his thermal blade is disrupted by the intruder’s sword.

 

He has to rely on his knife which is a severe disadvantage. The other has longer limbs and a tail, a tail with a barb attached to it.

 

He deflects the tail with his shield and locks knife with blade, the intruder freezes for a moment allowing Keith to lunge forward and manages to slice through the armor on his chest but the wound he gives the other before receiving a kick is superficial.

 

Painful likely, but superficial.

 

The other runs, Keith gives chase after picking himself up, the other clearly isn’t that intelligent. There’s a good chance he would have been able to win a knife fight.

 

A dogfight? He’s in Keith’s territory now, he manages to hit the other’s engines and is moving in for the kill when Sendak’s voice rings over the comms, “what do you think you’re doing out there half-breed?”

 

“There’s an intruder I’m taking him out-”

 

The distraction was just enough the other’s fighter jumps to hyperdrive.

 

“And they’re gone.”

 

“So you failed again then.”

 

He bites his response back, because Sendak’s just fishing now. He also bites back a number of colorful descriptions of Sendak’s family tree.

 

“Return to the dreadnought, I have a punishment detail ready to assign.”

 

There’s a number of new, and especially creative additions to his growing list of “things commander Sendak is.”

 

As soon as he lands, “Niex, place a perishable in the ventilation system leading to the commander’s room.”

 

Is Keith petty?

 

Yes.

 

Does he care?

 

No.

 

As soon as his job, cleaning out the fabricator and doing maintenance on the sentries, Kajier helps because Keith doesn’t know what hes’ doing.

 

Also Sendak made another impossible demand regarding figuring out how to lower the Red Lion’s particle barrier and Kajier runs diagnostics and upgrades on the sentries when he’s stressed.

 

“You called you uncle to brag yet?”

 

“No, I don’t feel like having Sendak on my ass, I totally will though, and I’ll have him send another transmission to Acxa, because yep, there are rebels. Galra traitors, although that one felt half-Galra.”

 

“Felt?”

 

“I can sense quintessence signatures, I’ve gotten good at it, though that’s thanks to my tutor.”

 

“Wait, you really were tutored by the Druids?”

 

“A Druid, Samael.”

 

“The Desolation?”

 

Keith just smiles.

 

“I want to know how many rumors are true,” reading Kajier is still difficult, his voice tends to lack a great deal of inflection. Small tells exist though, and he’s both nervous, and incredulous.

 

“I have indeed survived an ice worm bite to the torso, I can show you the scars.”

 

“Unnecessary, for now, I’ll believe you, I assume it had it’s venom glands removed?”

 

“No, but my body is aggressive about removing foreign quintessence, so I survived, barely, but I survived.”

 

“So you were tutored by the Druids, though not built as some rumors suggest.”

  
Keith laughs at that, because that is still one of his favorites.

 

“No not built.”

 

“You did survive a significant ice worm bite during the battle for Ulippa.”

 

Keith nods.

 

“And, I presume since you mentioned being sensitive enough to quintessence to tell someone is half-Galra, that’s how you’re able to find overlooked rebels and resistance?”

 

“Got it in one.”

 

Kajier makes a contemplative noise, “I desire time to think on this, you may go.”

 

“Sendak assigned me this.”

 

“I’ll just tell him I’m checking your work, not entirely untrue.”

 

Keith rolls his eyes but still goes to call his uncle.

****

 

 

Hunk isn’t sure what to make of the mystical space castle or the princess. Sure she’d decided to put Lance in an arm lock, but he decided to greet her (after she just woke up) by flirting. Which okay that’s how he greets every attractive female, but still, she doesn’t know that. And okay ten thousand years is a long nap.

 

Yeah he’s not going to hold the arm lock against her.

****

 

 

“There are Galra traitors lurking around the Empire, the one I found wore a mask but I have no doubt there are others hiding in plain sight.”

 

Thace seems alarmed to hear this, his uncle can’t be nearly that naive can he?

 

“I caught one lurking around Sendak’s ship, tall bugger with a tail blade, probably would have succeeded in killing me if he hadn’t thought escape was more important. Fool actually tried to take me in a fighter.”

 

“Did you kill him?”

 

Thace almost sounds apprehensive, he sighs, “uncle, I am a veteran now, spilling blood cannot be avoided you do realize this yes? He wouldn’t even have been the first half-Galra I killed. But no, my illustrious commander managed to interfere before I could strike the final blow. Damaged his engines, could have taken him out if we had followed him. But noo Commander Sendak is too important to take suggestions from a lowly _beliak_ ,” Keith spits Sendak’s favorite word.

 

Thace flinches, and Keith rolls his eyes, “not like the family hasn’t used it plenty of times.”

 

“I still don’t like hearing it, especially not from you.”

 

Keith scoffs, “I’m better than that uncle, if that’s how they think of me then it just makes it all the more satisfying when I leave them in my dust.”

  
Then he sighs, “gonna have to cut this short, Sendak’s already pissy so I’m almost certainly going to have to explain my call home. Talk later.”

****

 

 

Thace isn’t sure how to feel, he contacts Kolivan and is relieved to hear that Antok is fine, cut and bruised from the hit to his engines but fine.

 

What if Keith had managed to kill him in the fighter Thace had commissioned for him?

 

What if Ancestors forbid it had been Ulaz?

 

What if Antok had killed Keith?

 

Suddenly following Krolia’s grand attempt to change the Empire seems like a very bad, no good, absolutely terrible idea.

 

Especially since Antok was only there because he’d looked through his nephew’s message to Lotor, before sending it on.

****

 

 

Keith never considered he’d even be thinking this but thank the Ancestors for Zarkon, the Emperor’s order to find and capture Voltron and to take down the Altean princess who’s apparently still alive, managed to distract Sendak from his call to his uncle.

 

It also means he’ll be able to fly against the paladins of Voltron. He can feel his heart pounding in his ears, if anyone could give him the fight he’s been looking for it would be them.

 

They can’t even form Voltron, he’ll actually have a shot against them in his fighter.

 

After the jump to hyperdrive he finds Kajier and asks if he can make sure Niex is completely functional because there’s only one sentry he’ll tolerate flying against the Voltron lions at his six.

 

Then he goes to Red’s hangar, he hasn’t been able to see her since the incident with the intruder.

 

She feels angry, like the intruder was an affront to her sovereignty, and she is the true sovereign of this ship. Sendak is kidding himself.

 

“Shh, he’s gone now, I wouldn’t let someone try and take you, not rebel, not Empire, not even these new or returned paladins.”

 

He leans his head against her particle barrier and her growl turns into a purr, “of course I mean it, you’re my pride, and that means I am yours.”


	2. Yellow Blue Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can we have a version of this mission that doesn't end up with a teen ejected into space? The answer is no, no we cannot.

Pidge is sure that Coran’s ten thousand year nap has cracked his brain. Because two days, and two hours are very different things.

 

The Red Lion is aboard the Galra battle cruiser, a commander named Sendak appears on screen to tell them that surrender or death is their only options. Because why work for an evil Empire if you can’t go in for some good villain gloating.

 

“We have to fight, Sendak will just come after us anyway.”

 

“We don’t have a paladin for the Red Lion, I say we form a big ol Voltron snake and wormhole our way out of here.”

 

“Fight!”

 

“Snake!”

 

“Enough! Princess, you’ve fought the Galra before, you know more about Voltron than any of us. What would you suggest?”

 

While the princess, decides to commune with the dead Pidge decides to be proactive. “The ion cannon that is the ship’s main weapon will need to cool down rapidly after firing. If I can get in the ship then I might be able to shut down that system. They might get one shot with the cannon, after that it should overload and cause a chain reaction that’ll take out the ship.”

 

Shiro nods over her shoulder, Hunk looks concerned, “what if you have to manually reroute it? Can you do that?”

 

“Not without your help, you’ll need to walk me through it if it comes down to it.”

 

Allura returns in armor and ready to fight, “it’s time we took the fight to Zarkon!”

 

“Okay here’s the plan, we need to get on board the ship, then I’ll head to ion cannon cooling rig and reroute the cooling and exhaust systems. With that done the cannon should overload. We can sneak in on Green since the Empire knows we have Yellow and Blue you two will act as a distraction.”

 

She stares hard at the data, “if either of you can try and take out any of their auxiliary systems.”

 

“What about the Red Lion, we can’t just leave it with them can we?”

 

“Unfortunately without a paladin there’s not much we can do. The Red Lion is also extremely particular about who’s flying it. It’s particle barrier will keep it safe from the explosion of Sendak’s ship.”

****

 

 

Keith scowls, he’s been ordered to his fighter as a precaution, but it sounds like the paladins are surrendering. The laws of honor dictate that be respected, still it means he wont be fighting any of the Voltron paladins.

 

That is until Sendak announces that it’s a trick and the Yellow and Blue lions are attacking.

 

Keith lets loose a vicious near feral smile, “launching fighters.”

****

 

 

Pidge and Shiro enter the prison and they are half-way to the cannon systems when Shiro has a flashback to his imprisonment. Of him and Sam and Matt being dragged through these halls.

 

“We have to find them,” Pidge says resolute in this.

 

“We have to complete the mission,” is Shiro’s response.

 

“No, commander Holt is my father! I’m not giving up on he and my brother.”

 

“Commander Holt is? Katie?!”

 

Pidge nods, Shiro runs a frustrated hand through his hair, “alright, I’ll free the prisoners, you need to get to the cannon systems. You’re the only one who knows what your doing.”  


She frowns, not at all pleased to leave the rescue to Shiro, but he’s right she’s got the best shot.

****

 

 

“These guys aren’t even putting up a fight, c’mon Hunk lets show them how Paladins of Voltron handle things.” Lance is all cocky attitude and eagerness.

 

“Uh, or we could stick to the plan and not die, I’d prefer that thanks.”

 

“Hunk don’t be such a-” Lance is interrupted by shots from a fighter hitting his lion.

 

Hunk can see this fighter is different from the others, and he’s not sure what it is but he really doesn’t think Lance should take it on.

 

“Lance, buddy, don’t-”

 

“Oh it is so on!”

 

Hunk sighs.

 

Then he panics because the ion cannon manages it’s one shot, he’s really hoping that Pidge managed to destroy it’s cooling system because just the electromagnetic field surrounding the shot nearly fried him.

 

“Uh guys we can not let that thing get off another shot.”

 

“I’m afraid I’ll have to agree with Hunk on that one, we cannot take another hit from that cannon.” Allura’s voice rings out over the open communication channel.

****

 

 

“Tag your ‘it.’” Keith grins as his shots connect with the Blue lion. And true to his assessment it rounds on him.

 

So far the two paladins have been, well, disappointing. Keith had been hoping for some fight to them, but nope, a mediocre pilot with impulse issues. And Yellow doesn’t even seem to want to try fighting.

 

The Blue pilot really is mediocre, whoever they are they are flying one of the most advanced and maneuverable pieces of technology ever seen and yet, not once have they been in control of this chase.

 

Keith despite playing mouse has been the one in control the whole time. To emphasize that point he does a loop around the paladin dinging the lion a few more times for good measure.

 

“C’mon paladin just a little further.”

 

Then he stops, testing the water, seeing if blue will take the bait.

****

 

 

Pidge makes it to the ion reactor, “alright it looks like most of these systems are automated,” luckily it’s a system Rover used to run on so it’s not too hard to reroute everything as she needs.

 

“Alright Pidge prisoners are away, lets get back to Green.”

 

“All finished here, meet you there.”

****

 

 

 _Who does this jerk think he is?_ Lance thinks bitterly, the Galra fighter flew literal circles around him, shooting him the whole way and now is just sitting there.

 

“Oh, you think you’re better than me? Take this!”

 

The fighter’s wings flipping rotate and it rockets out of the way of Lance’s attack at the last second to reveal.

 

“Uh oh,” is all Lance can say as his laser hits Hunk.

 

“Lance what the hell!?”

 

“Sorry Hunk! I was trying to hit that fighter.”

 

“Lance, leave the fighter alone whoever they are they are just baiting you. Successfully I might add.”

****

 

 

 _Idiot actually fell for it,_ Keith notes as he uses his fighter’s rotating wings to soar upward then behind the Blue Lion.

 

Time to end this, his shot is lined up perfectly, he’ll get both paladins with it.

 

“It’s been, well disappointing, buh bye.”

 

His ship’s small ion cannon fires.

 

Then something impacts his ship.

****

 

 

“Lance look out!” is the first thing that registers to Lance.

 

The next thing that registers is the electromagnetic wave that sends him careening into Hunk. Apparently that fighter had it’s own version of the big scary Galra cannon and had almost hit him and Hunk.

  
Which would have been really bad if the explosion in the distance is any indication.

 

The only reason he’s alive is because Pidge and Green apparently decided to tackle the fighter.

****

 

 

Keith curses severely righting his fighter, Niex is already firing at the Green Lion, his port wing is damaged and it’s thrusters are out.

 

“Commander Sendak, they have the Green Lion, repeat they have the Green Lion. I’m pulling back.”

 

“Negative half-breed.”

 

With that the channel cuts out, because of course Sendak’s going to cut communications as soon as he gives that order.

****

 

 

“Sir, there’s some odd readings with the ion reactor.”

 

“Begin prep for firing sequence, Kajier go check the reactor.”

****

 

 

Kajier is not happy, of course Sendak’s going to send him personally and not a sentry. Not like the reactor’s a safe place outside the firing sequence, but during, and it’s also overloading.

 

Sabotage, “commander Sendak stop the firing sequence!”

****

 

 

Kajier’s transmission comes to late.

 

“Fire.”

****

 

 

Keith gets a distressingly first hand look at the dreadnought breaking apart from the ion cannon out. The force of the blast isn’t something he can dodge in time with his fighter damaged.

 

His engine’s are over heating, his controls are shot, only thing he can do is eject.

 

He can see a lot while tumbling through the emptiness of the void. His very expensive custom fighter crashing and exploding on debris. An escape pod plummeting to the surface. A fighter squadron entering controlled descent probably the last of the sentries left.

 

Idly he hopes Niex is with them, which is absurd, he’s about to die and he’s worried about his shiny sentry.

 

It’s enough to break down laughing, so he does, because he’s going to die out here, running out air, shredded by wreckage, pulled into reentry and burned up. “At least then I’ll get to be a shooting star,” he giggles slightly manic from the adrenaline.

 

Out of all the ways to die filling his head, “eaten by a robot lion” wasn’t on the list and yet there’s a pair of jaws coming down around him.

 

“Oh,” is all that runs through his head.


	3. Observations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just because you're two lions and a paladin short of Voltron doesn't mean you can slack.

Red is the single best thing he’s ever flown, which he does feel a bit bad about saying because watching the custom craft that had been his uncle and tutor’s coming of age gift was like losing a friend.

 

He felt Red make a soothing rumble, because she understood, she knew that they were both here because they’re lost. Her last paladin long gone, she also disliked Sendak as much as he, that he was returning to his superior galled both of them.

  
“Don’t worry girl, it’s just until I can talk to Samael, I’ll pass his failure right to the witch and he’ll be drawn and quartered for his incompetence.” She rumbled, it felt, well she liked the idea of Sendak drawn and quartered that’s for sure.

 

She also clearly disapproves of Zarkon and Haggar though, “yeah I don’t like them either but they’re the best we’ve got; for now.” Thoughts drifting back to his commander, his true commander and sworn liege lord.

 

He strokes the armrest of the pilot’s chair one arm holding his side, one of his ribs is probably cracked, maybe broken, it hurts.

 

“For now,” he repeats.

****

 

 

Sendak flinches when Red lands in front of him, he’d deny it but Keith’s helmet has many things, including on board cameras. He’s going to make a little video of that flinch on loop. Probably set to funny music, send it to Thace, Thace’ll like it.

 

Sendak is also suitably perturbed when stepping with all confidence out of the lion is his armored half-breed. Keith is going to relish this, until he notices the assemblage of units. Niex is there, Kajier is not.

 

“Where is the science officer?” His tone is clipped and guarded.

 

“He was in the ion reactor chamber when it blew, he’s gone,” Haxus at least sounds apologetic. Sendak doesn’t look like he cares, which is just to be expected from Zarkon’s second.

 

Keith hates him in this moment, but he’s learned patience, learned to fight his impulses. They are fighting Voltron, there will be plenty of opportunities for Sendak to have a suitable accident.

 

He remembers when he’d told Emara he’d only need one assassin, that it seems the Head of a High House would be his first target. Red growls behind him and it’s clearly not only in his head this time because Sendak and Haxus twitch.

 

_Gently, gently, he’s still useful, and we will have our opportunity._

****

 

 

Shiro notes the clear disapproval that Allura talks to them all, he’s in armor and came from an early morning routine. The only reason he is however is because in prison he was frequently woken early, he doesn’t remember most of it, but his body does. What he does remember are nightmares that make rising from sleep even easier.

 

“Right well, I think it’s time for you to try and strengthen your bonds, you are one paladin short, but I believe in you paladins. You’ll be able to fly as a team in no time!”

 

Somewhere in the back of his mind Shiro finds himself apprehensive about her tone.

****

 

 

Keith decides to observe their foes, Niex applying a brace so he’s less likely to aggravate his rib. Another nice thing about observing them, Sendak refuses to get close for strategic reasons, which lets him remove his armor for the first time since the fight.

 

“Analysis suggests it is broken, you will risk worsening the fracture and even a punctured lung should you aggravate it.”

 

Keith waves it off slightly, “I can’t believe you were programmed to be such a den mother. Oh Ancestors did you get that? Tell me you got Yellow wiping out Green.”

 

“I was not observing that, I was putting the brace on to prevent aggravating your injury.”

 

“Watch them, not me, you can see me any time, I want you to record this.”

 

“For strategic review?”

 

“That and watching these clowns is hilarious.”

 

He winces in pain tears pricking his eyes, from the laugh he got out of the castle opening fire on the lions. “Worth it.”

 

Red is embarrassed he can tell, these are her siblings and they are failing to live up to their legends, and she is not happy.

 

“Don’t worry babe I know you aren’t your family. I also understand them doing ridiculous things.”

 

She seems vaguely offended that he would compare the antics of the paladins to House Hazar’s repeated attempts on his life.

****

 

 

Shiro seems a little dubious about the live fire training, so he decides to open the doors once Coran tests the fire suppressant system.

 

The combat training goes, marginally better, marginally, though Hunk and Pidge still drop pretty early, Lance it turns out isn’t too bad when he’s not showing off.

 

Then Coran increases the difficulty.

****

 

 

Keith finds himself itching to get into the castle because dammit it’s been over two vargas and so far reconnaissance has involved watching the castle do nothing. And watching the Arusians do, stuff, dull stuff, mostly hide and cower whenever the lions are out. Then they hold some sort of religious ritual, which may involve self-immolation in the future.

 

Until that day comes though, they are a dull agri-world species like every other dull agri-world species.

 

Apparently the lions hold some major religious significance, he’s using a drone to spy on them. Mostly because the paladins aren’t out doing anything, though the little, probably amphibians? Maybe reptiles, aren’t doing much either.

 

The day’s a wash.

****

 

 

Pidge and Hunk were teamed up for the invisible maze, and damn if the two of them weren’t obnoxious to watch, because they were so… patient and mathematical about it.

 

Pidge didn’t get shocked once, he had Shiro and he still got zapped, twice!

 

Lance scowls and Pidge shoots him a smug smile he officially loathes.

 

“Aw Lance don’t pout I bet you’ll rock the next thing. As long as the next thing isn’t flirting.”

 

Lance hates Pidge, sure Pidge was the one who came up with their plan to rescue Shiro and did most of the leg work.

 

But it’s official Pidge sucks.

****

 

 

Today is no longer a wash, the paladins were back and apparently they were doing test flights, blind test flights if this was any indication. Blue is still the best out of the bunch to watch, oh certainly the most useless, most easily goaded out of the bunch, but they are very entertaining.

 

Keith actually finds he misses blind test flights, “hey Red? Want to show them up next time they go hide in the castle?”

 

There’s a grumble in his head that seems very keen on the idea. Sendak told them to stay put, Sendak crashed the ship and had his one ally, well his one not robot ally, in this blown up.

 

As far as Keith’s concerned, Sendak is not the boss of him.

****

 

 

“UGH!” Lance flops backwards on the couch in the lounge, “today sucked.”

 

“You’re just mad you crashed head first into a rock face,” Pidge supplies, because Pidge is a goblin.

 

“You chickened out as soon as we started!” Lance shoots back.

 

“Uh, no that was me,” because Hunk is here for accuracy’s sake.

 

“Well whatever, I’m the one that saw this through to the end.”

 

“If seeing this through to the end is crashing into a rock face proverbial or not, I wanna go home.”

 

Hunk might actually have a point, there’s something ominous about that.

****

 

 

Coran tugs his mustache because, sure after ten thousand years the sensors might be a bit out of whack but according to the scanner the Red Lion is not only on Arus, but the Red Lion is zooming around Arus. Almost like it’s taunting them, flying around the planet but never reaching visual range of the castle.

 

“Princess could you come up to the bridge for a bit?”

 

“In a minute Coran I need to deal with the paladins.”

 

Well, if the sensors aren’t going haywire that’s what he’s calling her up here to do. That said she sounds stressed and mildly annoyed, so he’s going to triple check the sensors before dragging her up here.

****

 

 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Allura’s tone is icy.

 

“Uh, taking a break, what does it look like?” Pidge raises a brow, because did Lance just cop an attitude with the pretty space princess? There may be hope for the boy.

 

“You should be training, not loafing around!”

 

“Why? It’s not like we can form Voltron without Red or Black.”

 

“We can at least unlock Black once Coran is able to pinpoint the Red Lion’s exact location on Arus. And that we do not yet possess Voltron’s abilities means you should all try even more valiantly to connect with your own lions.”

 

Shiro comes in, “how about a compromise, five more minutes then we can start again?”

 

The team groans, but Allura seems satisfied.

****

 

 

Shiro and Pidge are doing a mind meld exercise to see if they can synchronize as paladins. Pidge had called Shiro before he could and that kind of galled Lance, like okay he and Hunk are besties so it’s not that bad but still.

 

Allura and Coran seem to be trying to puzzle out the fact that the Red Lion’s signature is zipping around the planet, doing what are frankly crazy stunts.

 

“I checked the sensors at least three different times and they appear to be working.”

 

“You don’t think the lion might have found it’s own paladin like the Blue lion do you?”

 

Lance glares at the screen, “ugh, I’m getting flashbacks to that fighter when we took out Sendak’s ship. Glad it’s probably space dust.”

 

Hunk shifts uncomfortably “Lance, I know this is a war and all but that’s cold.”

 

“Aw c’mon it’s probably one of those sentry things right?”

 

“Doubt it,” that’s Coran’s voice, “the Empire might have managed to get their sentries to make very quick decisions like that, but I don’t think so. Nope that was probably a skilled Galra pilot.”

 

“Oh,” Lance’s face falls.

 

“I mean, you did also fall for that trap though,” Hunk is definitely still sore about being shot and then run into.

 

“Well, they’re still a jerk then.”

****

 

 

Keith sneezes. He’s sitting just outside their base camp, Red parked a ways away with her particle barrier up. The sneeze hurts his injury, he hadn’t been able to do nearly as much as he wanted to in the lion because of it.

 

Then Sendak grounded him because, “I will not risk our counter attack because of your showboating.”

 

Which, okay, fair, Keith still doesn’t need to like it. Inhaling Keith snarls, “I swear if I’m allergic to something on this planet…. Haxus, Haggar’s building some kinda super-weapon right?”

 

Haxus frowns, “and if she were that would be far above your clearance.”

 

Which is a joke, because first, Keith outranks Haxus, second, really? Do they think Lotor is completely oblivious to something as major as a planet harvesting device?

 

“Well, if my oh so lowly clearance is right and they are, I want to put in a request with central that this mud-ball is the first to go.”

 

Sendak, Sendak actually laughs at that and, okay, part of Keith feels proud, the rest of him feels dirty.

****

 

 

“What do you think?” Coran looks at the lion, still very much in it’s particle barrier, and at the bottom of a deep hole, one it certainly didn’t put itself in.

 

“I don’t like it, I hope it’s simply found it’s paladin before we have, but Red has always been, odd, the thought it might be acting on it’s own after ten thousand years of dormancy is also a possibility.”

 

“Sorry princess, but I’m afraid that this isn’t something that I really have much experience with, I can work the castle well enough, but the lions were your father’s magnum opus so I can’t tell much about what they are capable of.”

 

“If what father told me is true, he may not fully understand it either. I shall consult him when we return to the castle.”

****

 

 

Keith is watching the stars, his rib is bothering him, but the painkillers are making sleep a possibility. Still this whole operation has been so utterly botched there’s only one way any of them are getting out of this.

 

The total capture of the Castle of Lions.

 

Sendak says he has a plan, that tomorrow evening they can put it into effect presuming they have a suitable distraction.

 

Keith is getting the paranoid sense the distraction is meant to be him.

****

 

 

“Allura, you seem concerned,” her father always could read her like a book, no matter what.

 

“Oh father, it’s just, the Red Lion is still without a paladin, we have not yet been able to retrieve it.”

 

“I see, and without it the Black remains sealed.”

 

“More than that though, father, in all your time in the Red Lion, have you ever known it to behave… oddly?”

 

To this her father actually laughed, “all the time daughter, all the lions behave oddly, and after ten thousand years imprisoned by the Galra I’d be surprised if it did not have a few quirks.”

 

“Quirks? I’d say dangerously zipping around the planet without a driver is more than a quirk.”

 

Alfor frowns at this, “are you certain it has no pilot?”

 

“As far as I know the planet is uninhabited, though I will look again.”

****

 

 

Turns out the planet is not uninhabited, but somehow Allura can’t help but think the Arusians aren’t the ones piloting the lion. If anyone is and the lion hasn’t simply gone rogue. Which is a disturbing concept when one considers the full scope of Voltron.

 

Still she may not have Altea, but she is still a princess and diplomat, so she smiles and makes herself at home among the Arusians.

****

 

 

Keith observes two of the paladins getting in the Green Lion and leaving the castle, two out of the four paladins plus princess decide to play diplomat to the Arusians, but that sounds much less interesting than what the other two are up to.

 

Turns out they are investigating the wreckage of the cruiser that managed to make it planet side. It’s surprisingly intact considering reentry, though he supposes the bridge not being located near the ion cannon helps.

 

They wont find anything of note, Keith’s looked, though he was trying to find any remains to properly send off. Unlikely considering the force of the blast and Kajier’s closeness to it.

 

Still he hopes what he could do was enough, that Kajier is with his House’s court.

 

He’s tempted to attack them, they are distracted but two things cause him to hesitate, first being Sendak’s plan. While Keith may not respect the commander, particularly not as readily as Lotor he’s not about to be the one to jeopardize his plan. Which actually has a shot at success. The second is Takashi, he has no desire to fight the Champion injured. If it comes down to it he’ll still relish the chance, but not until it’s the last resort. In this case discretion is the better part of valor.

****

 

 

Turns out temptation doesn’t last because the ship is obliterated (and it nearly nearly takes the paladins with it.)

 

A robeast coffin, and inside it, a suspiciously Myzax looking robeast. Oh if yesterday was entertaining then today will be a show to witness.

 

The robeast makes short work of two paladins and Keith can’t help but wonder why Takashi seems to be failing. This was his first real fight, he knows Myzax’s tactics and, based on what Keith’s observed, they haven’t changed.

 

Over reliance on his weapon and brute strength had been his downfall in the Arena, and it would seem becoming one of Haggar’s pet projects did not change that.

 

Why do the paladins fight like they are relearning these tactics?

 

It’s annoying, though he supposes, Voltron is not here, so Shiro is instead coordinating three flying lions instead of his own body. Luckily for the paladins the Blue Lion discovers the ability to encase things in ice.

  
Doing this while the sphere is boomeranging back causes Myzax’s mace to explode the orb to go sailing off into the distance.

 

Frustratingly close to Keith’s perch. Clinging to the tree the Blood Knight is left thinking that if the paladins are going to cause his near death every quintant then maybe cutting his losses and flying back to Lotor in Red is the best option.

  
Red doesn’t seem to approve of this plan, and honestly neither does he, but he also doesn’t approve of getting blown up, ejected into space, a broken rib, losing his ally, and being nearly squished.

 

His face scrunches even further in irritation, “no I am not being overly dramatic!” He yells at Red through the bond.

 

Niex looks up at him, Keith glares back “not talking to you. Red’s being a pill.”

 

Red is also laughing at him.


	4. Red Knight Takes White Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Know what all parties need? A bomb, bombs make parties memorable. Pidge is certainly going to remember this party for an annoyingly long time.

Keith, well, Keith cannot believe what he’s seeing, Arusians, just, walking in and out of the castle, doors thrown open to the world. He can feel his eye twitch underneath his helmet.

Sendak speaks his voice laced with contempt, “these fools, one victory and they throw open the castle doors and lower the defenses.”

Keith looks up at him, “why? Are they complete morons? I mean these are supposed to be the Paladins of Voltron, Emperor Zarkon was once among them.”

“Clearly these new paladins are a lackluster last ditch gambit by the princess.”

Keith smirks, “or maybe the lions have gone senile.”

Red growls in annoyance and he can’t help but get the sense he was just smacked upside the head.

“Be ready to bring the lion in when you are called. Haxus is the bomb ready?”

“Yes sir, in fact I believe I can copy the identification code of the drone they’ve repurposed to sneak it in.”

Sendak smiles, “excellent, commence.”

****

 

Sauntering over to the Red Lion Keith whistles a little to himself, “I am so ready to have my own room again, so Red, wanna crash a party by going home?”

 

The lion opens to her paladin and he grins stepping up the ramp into the cabin when there’s a small alarm-like sound. Niex is approaching briskly, “where are you going?” He asks the sentry.

“I am programmed to assist you as your second not: ‘that puffed up Trufalian meringue or whiny intestinal eel.’” The last bit is said using a recording of Kajier and it makes Keith smile.

“Alright then we’re wasting time.”

 

The sentry follows it’s master.

****

 

And Lance has officially decided to not be the first to try space food or drink ever again, if Hunk hasn’t made it he’s not touching it.

 

Because nunvill? No, just no, like Coran even admitted it tastes like hot dog water and feet. Which does beg the question of how Coran knows what a hot dog is when a milkshake is a foreign concept?

 

The topic turns to home and well, everyone wants to go there, but no one seems quite as, affected by this as Lance feels. “Guys, I think the nunvill’s getting to me.”

 

A man’s gotta have his pride and Lance decides to bow out while he still has some grace.

****

 

Turns out Allura did not like what Pidge had to tell her, which to be fair was that she was leaving to go find her family.

 

“Pidge you can’t we need you to pilot the Green Lion! Without you there is no Voltron!”

 

Pidge glares at her, “we have no Red Lion, and no Red paladin. We can’t form Voltron, what I can do is find my family! I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

****

 

Lance is kinda glad Coran’s at least willing to listen to him ramble on, “I even miss rain.”

  
“Rain what’s that?”

 

“Water that falls from the sky,” _and yet you know what hot dogs are._

 

“Ah we had something like that on Altea, only it was rocks, boiling hot and razor sharp, knock a hole right in your head.”

 

“Sounds fun,” _sounds horrifying but hey I’m not gonna criticize the dead planet_.

 

“Ah well, we should at least try to get back to the others.”

 

“Yeah,” Pidge’s drone floats by beeping quietly, “hey Rover.”

 

The drone ignores him, the beeping intensifying, “wait, where’s Pidge.” That isn’t good beeping.

 

“Coran look out!”

 

An explosion knocks Lance to the ground and blackness overtakes him.

****

 

Travel plans canceled due to bomb, why don’t the plucky heroines she’s used to reading about have to deal with this crap. Well they do but rarely _before_ they get to make a dramatic exit.

 

Still with the power out she’s stuck worrying a great deal.

****

 

Lance is injured, severely, Coran and Hunk have to make the journey to something called a Balmera for a new crystal.

 

“Lion warriors! The village is under attack!”

 

“Someone needs to stay with the Castle, Shiro, please make sure Lance stays safe. I will go with the Arusians, I brought this upon them.”

****

 

Shiro goes to the entrance with Lance when he sees them, an approaching force of sentries, and Sendak.

 

“Stand aside.”

“No you’re not getting in.”

 

Sendak smiles, “yes, I am.”

 

Sendak is larger and more powerful than him, yet Shiro is well trained and his own arm is powerful, the duel ends in a draw, until Haxus with a gun to Lance’s head decides it.

****

 

Keith is monitoring a pod escaping atmosphere, if timing wasn’t so tight he’d consider shooting it down. Red doesn’t approve.

 

“Yeah shooting down the unarmed is pretty… dull.”

“The castle has fallen bring Red home,” Sednak’s voice orders over his communicator.

 

“Finally.”

****

 

The Arusian warrior tackles the first sentry they come across, it falls to the ground and Allura notices the rest seem to be propped up.

 

“We’ve been deceived!”

 

She turns around and races back to the castle, her chest flutters in a moment of hope when the Red Lion soars above her. This hope is dashed when the particle barrier falls.

 

“They’re taking Voltron!”

****

 

Once Sendak finishes his call to Zarkon Shiro finds himself stirring, he wakes but doesn’t open his eyes, instinct telling him to pretend to be out.

 

The doors hiss open and there’s the sound of two pairs heavy metal boots, “Sentries?”

 

A robotic voice, one that sends a shiver of recognition down Shiro’s spine, he feels like he may have heard it before; but where?

 

Questions most his own, some about Earth bubble up in his mind, what he hears next chills him to his core.

“The Red Lion is secure in it’s hangar commander Sendak.”

“Excellent work ‘Paladin.’” Sendak’s voice is mocking, and Shiro’s breath hitches.

 

He freezes hoping he didn’t just give himself away. He can feel a gaze on him, but Sendak seems to be looking away from him.

****

 

“Allura, Sendak has taken the castle. He’s captured Lance and Shiro. Is there anyway to stop the launch sequence?”

 

Allura lets out a breath of relief, hope isn’t lost!

“Yes if you can disconnect the primary turbine from the central energy chamber that should force them to reset the system. It may buy us enough time.”

****

 

Using short jet pack bursts Pidge makes her way down an elevator shaft and to the main turbine.

 

“It’s all in Altean! Which code is it.”

Allura’s voice is silent just static. Panicking Pidge slashes it with her bayard shutting down the whole thing.

****

 

The system goes dark, were he not aware of Takashi’s wakefulness he’d laugh, as it stands he merely arcs an eyebrow beneath his helmet.

 

“We have a saboteur take him out,” Sendak orders.

 

Keith’s mind is already putting the pieces together, sabotage also destroyed the main ship. He turns on his heel “Niex to me. Haxus, get the ship up and running, I have been waiting for this fight.”

Haxus turns his head to Sendak who just nods, “in this he’s right.”

****

 

Shiro remains still long after the footsteps have faded away, that voice, the, eagerness in it to fight. It’s robotic, but it isn’t a sentry, too much feeling to it.

What have they gotten themselves into.

They are also tracking Pidge’s transmissions.

“Relay that room to the Knight.”

 

“Sir! I will also need to manually restart the system.”

 

“Do it.”

 

 _Pidge be safe,_ Shiro thinks hoping to find someway to free himself once Haxus is out of the room.

****

 

“Pidge, have you made it to the generator room?”

 

“Yeah, but this is so advanced I don’t know if I can do anything about it!”

 

“Yes, you can, your fellow Paladins lives are at stake!”

 

She can do something, she can save them, she couldn’t save Matt and her father, now she’s here she’ll make her family proud.

 

“Talk me through it.”

 

“Alright, it’s also a weapon so stay clear of the energy arcs.”

 

“Ah, Green, I was hoping it’d be you,” a metallic voice behind her drawls.

 

She whips around and, _wow, I guess it really isn’t an evil empire without an armored death knight._

 

“After what you did to our dreadnought I’ve been eager for this. Hold back,” this is directed at the sentries, one of which is clearly more advanced than the rest, “they’re mine!”

 

Pidge runs, because nope, not dealing with those kind of odds.

 

“Pidge! Are you there? PIDGE!?”

 

“Can’t talk Allura, red death knight chasing me.”

 

She makes a dash for the nearby vent. Escaping in the nick of time.

****

 

“You two stay and guard the generator, you three find out where that vent goes and ambush the paladin, drive them to me.” Keith stalks off, his blood is boiling, he can sense something, but it’s too clouded by the castle’s ambient quintessence.

“Damn Altean sorcery.”

****

 

“The invisible maze that’ll stop them!” She activates it destroying one of the sentries and trapping the other two.

 

The standard model seems to be trying to bash it’s way through the maze. The sleek black red and gold sentry examines her. Then swipes it’s energy glaive upward, seemingly satisfied, it jumps. And holy crap that’s a jetpack on it’s back, Pidge doesn’t stick around to see it come down.

 

Ducking into a nearby vent. Almost dying to a third standard sentry, managing to bring it down by the skin of her teeth.

 

She thinks back to the first time she met Lance and Hunk, she can’t let them down now.

****

 

Haxus is there, rerouting systems, “powering up.”

 

“Perfect, up and up and up, I wouldn’t want to be touching a metal surface.” She escapes by grabbing Rover, Haxus isn’t so lucky.

 

Too bad it’s hard to keep a bad Galra down. “You’re the one causing the trouble, a child?”

 

“I’m a paladin of Voltron.”

“Let me tell you child, I am a soldier of the Galra Empire, nothing stops me but victory or death.”

 

Pidge rushes forward trying to trip Haxus up, but he snags her grapple and tosses her, smirking like the smug snake he is.

  
“Nowhere left to run, nowhere left to hide.”

  
Luckily Rover distracts him long enough for her to get behind him and trip him. With Rover’s sacrifice, Haxus falls.

  
She doesn’t have long to mourn, there’s the sound of clapping behind her. The Knight, “very good, performance, couldn’t have happened to a nicer sub-commander.”

  
“So much for Galra camaraderie,” she snarls, braced for an attack.

  
“I had camaraderie with only one, you blew him up with our ship.”

  
_Uh oh_ , the Knight charges, and it’s only by dodging she manages to avoid his blade. It leaves a seared gash in the floor.

  
“Still you are a worthy opponent; even if your fighting skills are lack luster, what is your name? I will at least honor you with remembrance.”

  
“Pidge, Pidge Gunderson,” okay her assumed name but this guy’s a Galra so who cares.

  
“I am Keith Kogane, of House Hazar,” the Knight charges.

 

_what kind of name is Keith for an evil alien?_

  
She dodges and counters, when she can but it’s clear that this is an opponent that’s got her outmatched even if he is favoring one side. “Injury?”

 

“Your fault, I was having so much fun getting Blue and Yellow to shoot each other too.”

 

 _Oh, so this is the fighter pilot, armored death knight ace pilot._ “This is just too weird.”

“Indeed. You certainly match the other in ferocity.”

“Other?”

 

“The human I fought before coming to this dismal backwater, I could have sworn you were him. But no, too short, to slight, to female.”

  
_Matt!_ “If you did anything to him!”

  
“Enough!” Sendak’s voice rings out over the comms, “bring her to the bridge.”

  
“This is my duel Sendak, my fight, honor demands-”

 

“Honor demands you follow the orders of your superiors _beliak_.”

 

The Knight, Keith, _still weird_ stiffens Pidge tries to take advantage and finds her self shocked by his energy shield bursting in her face. “Yes commander Sendak, right away commander Sendak.”

****

 

Walking for a while in silence it’s clear the Knight is injured, but he also has that fancy sentry with him, “so… beliak?” Okay she was not anticipating the rapidity or ferocity of the Knight’s response. Or the armored backhand.

She tastes blood from a split lip, “Sendak is a pureblood and my commanding officer, it is his, right,” he spits the word, “to refer to me as such, you are a prisoner of war, and worthy or not, you will not disrespect me in that way. Clear?”

 

“Yeah,” she says, before elbowing him where she thinks he’s injured, and okay she winces a bit herself at the snap and crakcle she gets from it.

 

The sentry doesn’t chase her it moves to brace it’s master, interesting, filing that away for later she dashes off.

****

 

Breathing is agony, but he hones the pain into fury, and no small amount, “stop mothering me and get after her!”

 

“Sir your injury is in a dangerously precarious position, one blow like that could.”

 

“Victory or death!” He snarls, “now find her! I will return to the bridge.”

****

 

She returns to find Sendak taunting Shiro, readying a hologram she prepares to free him.

She manages to get him loose in time for Sendak to capture her, and shock her.

 

Lance wakes long enough to shoot Sendak.

 

Shiro surges forward to hit Sendak in the chest.

 

Dodging Shiro he counterattacks but that leaves him open to Pidge who disrupts the energy holding his arm to his shoulder, letting Allura who’s just arrived to trap him behind a particle barrier.

The celebration is short lived cut off by a hissing laugh “Takashi.”

Shiro whips around to find the Knight staring him down, “you haven’t wavered a bit, as capable a champion as ever.”

He charges, “who are you? How do you know my name.”

The Knight flinches slightly, before redoubling his attacks, “I can’t believe you forgot me Takashi!”

 

It’s slightly terrifying, he’d been holding back Pidge realizes, now he’s fighting like he’s uninjured, throwing his whole being into it.

****

 

Shiro notices this one is fighting on adrenaline, probably half mad with it. His attacks display high level of skill and training but he’s moving recklessly. He takes advantage of one of the more aggressive strikes to use his flesh hand to push the sword away and slash upward into the Knight’s helmet with his artificial hand.

 

He can smell burnt hair and feel the heat of the Knight’s blade on his face, the nearness of it sends a pulse of fear through him. His gambit works however.

 

The Knight is pushed back the circuitry of his helmet exposed.

****

 

Time to fight dirty, Keith shifts, beneath his armor and undoes the emergency release on his helmet. He throws it at Takashi who bats it away with his flesh hand and uses his prosthetic to stop Keith’s sword.

  
“Wha- You’re human!” That shock is exactly what he wants to see, bringing his mother’s knife up he readies his strike aiming for the Champion’s throat.

 

“And you hesitate!” Distraction is deadly on the battlefield, which he learns first hand when his side erupts in agony. The Green paladin, Pidge struck his injury with her bayard shocking him in the process.

 

He can’t breathe, he’s choking, the wet ragged sound of his attempts to breathe, he knows it, a punctured lung.

“Hah, I’m a failure after all,” black splotches appear in his vision and everything goes dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do not ask me why the spacing is so inconsistent here for I do not know (it's not in my original doc.)


	5. Enigma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, how do you deal with an injured frenemy on ice?

It feels weird to be taking Lance and someone who was just trying to kill them to the healing pods. Shiro managed to stabilize the Knight. Lance only needs a day, the Knight however it would seem will need a bit longer.

 

Worse no one was sure what to do with him. They could keep him on ice like they were with Sendak. But it’s hard to reconcile doing that to someone who looks so human.

 

“He knew my name Pidge, he’s human and he knew my name,” Shiro puts a hand on the pod.

 

Pidge looks up from her computer. “Yeah, wondering about that too.”

****

 

 

Coran enters followed by Allura and Hunk, “right found that bandage for your lip Pidge. How’d that happen by they way?”

 

“I called sleeping beauty over there a mean name. Or well, Sendak called him a mean name and I repeated it.”

 

Coran raises a brow.

 

“What does _beliak_ even mean?”

 

Coran and Allura both make choking sounds and their faces twist in disgust, “PIDGE! That’s what you said?!”

 

Everyone looks at them, Allura recovers first, “I suppose that explains what a human was doing with the Galra.”

 

“Indeed,” Coran says handing Pidge the bandage “you’re lucky you didn’t get shot number five.”

 

“What does it even mean!” does she need to shout? No, but this is embarrassing.

 

“Direct translation is half-breed, which is why it explains him,” Coran supplies.

 

Pidge looks at the comatose figure, “that just opens way more questions. And okay half-breed’s not nice but not too bad.”

 

Allura clears her throat, “no but there’s a great deal of nuance to the word, because it also carries meanings of tainted, impure, worthless, waste, and…” She grimaces, “spawn of an animal.”

 

Everyone in the room makes a face that roughly mirrors the ones Coran and Allura made a minute ago.

 

“Okay, that’s added to arch-swears list,” Pidge mumbles looking back to her computer.

 

Hunk looks at her, “the what?”

 

“The small list of swears that exist but Are Not To Be Used.”

 

“Ah, probably wise, if what you told me about his swordsmanship is true then I do not want to piss him off.”

 

“Assuming we wake him up,” Allura says coolly.

 

“Well yeah, but he’s human, at least partly, right? Is it really okay to just leave him there? I mean he’s not much older than Pidge right?” Hunk replies.

 

“Yeah, that also explains the name. Keith’s not too Galra,” Pidge says offhandedly.

 

Everyone looks at her again, “how’d you know his name?”

 

“He said something about being a worthy opponent because I blew up his ship and the honor of remembrance.”

 

Coran thoughtfully examines the healing pod, _interesting, he has a human name, but he’s in the Galra military and knows their honor and duel customs_.

 

“Also he’s the guy that got Lance to shoot Hunk,” Pidge snickers.

 

“So, armored duelist with a, what type of sword was that?” Hunk asks.

 

“A red quintessence powered thermal blade, probably a custom job,” Coran says

 

Hunk and Pidge exchange a look, “I thought the same thing man. But we can’t keep him in there forever, he’s fought Matt.”

 

“Are you sure?” Shiro looks alarmed.

 

“He said I looked like him,” Pidge is leaving out “the except shorter and a girl” comment for obvious reasons.

 

Shiro sighs the rubs his head Hunk looks at him, “maybe he was imprisoned with you guys? He seemed pretty mad you didn’t know him.”

 

“Yeah, I don’t know, it could be,” the thought unsettles him, leaving another person, even a half-Galra, especially one so young, in the Arena doesn’t sit right with him

 

“Well enough of this doom and gloom; we at least have some good news in all this!” Allura’s smile is bright and sunny, “the Red Lion has found her paladin!”

 

“What!?” Everyone shouts in unison.

 

“I know, I was shocked too, but it flew overhead when I was helping the Arusians, before Sendak activated the particle barrier. I do hope they managed to stay hidden though, the Arusians don’t seem the most capable of fighters I clearly misjudged at least one of them.”

 

“Wait, you said the Red Lion flew? Not it was flown, by a fighter or something?” Shiro asks suddenly very wary.

 

“Yes, why?”

 

“Because the Lion was secured for Sendak.”

 

Allura’s smile fades into a confused and vaguely suspicious frown “what?”

 

Shiro points to their sleeping half-Galra enigma, “he secured it. I guess Sendak wasn’t being ironic when he said Paladin.”

 

“WHAT?!” Allura goes from confused and annoyed too clearly pissed off.

 

Coran holds up his hands in a placating gesture, “now princess at least we can open the Black Lion’s hangar.”

****

 

 

Assessment Review: Too many to attack without drawing fire and sustaining damage. Keith sustained severe injury. Enemies are supplying medical attention. Reason unknown. Enemies are debating allowing Keith to awaken. Reason unknown.

 

Niex remains suspended in one of the vents above the medical bay with the paladins talking beneath it.

 

Priorities List: Follow and observe, secure resources, await healing process completion, reassess when healing is complete.

****

 

 

All four lions are assembled, the roars that fill the chamber are roars of triumph, and the final hangar opens to reveal the Black Lion in all its glory.

 

“Shiro, you may now take your place as the head of Voltron,” Allura’s face has a sad smile on it.

 

“Alright, now we can go save Shay!”

****

 

 

The four paladins are training while Allura stands in the Red Lion’s hangar. “Why?” She shouts in accusation at the still red figure, its particle barrier went up as soon as they freed the Black Lion.

 

“Why would you choose a Galra after everything? After Father!” She chokes up and stops, clutching the red bayard to her chest.

 

“Why would you betray us like this?”

 

The lion remains impassive, Allura screams and chucks the bayard to the ground it skids across the floor and into a corner.

 

She takes a breath and leans her head against the particle barrier “I do not understand, help me understand, please.”

 

It’s almost a whisper, like a snatch of music drifting through empty streets, _he needs guidance._

****

 

 

Resource Identified: Red bayard, paladin weapon, responds only to chosen paladin.

 

Niex quickly snatches the bayard and retreats to one of the side tunnels of the maintenance shaft, leaving the grating open and making it look like the bayard simply fell into the shaft.

****

 

 

“Quiznak!” Allura hisses, “I’m sure it fell around here som- oh, quiznak.” The maintenance shaft is open.

 

“Coran, I might need a little help.”

****

 

 

“That is a weblum of an issue,” Coran says thoughtfully, because, well yeah, if the bayard fell here it could be anywhere in the lower levels, one of the side tunnels, even the bottom of the shaft.

****

 

 

Pidge has been running a diagnostic on the Galra crystal for several hours now, and she’s tired and fed up.

 

The crystal’s energy is different from anything her sensors are capable of picking up.

 

She also frowns at the pile of sentry parts.

 

“Hunk are these all the sentries?”

 

Hunk looks up, “uh, I’m pretty sure, between you and oddly enough the mice, all of them got pretty well wrapped up.”

 

“What about the uber-sentry?”

 

“The what?”

 

“When I had those three that I caught in the invisible maze.”

 

“Pidge, only two sentries were in the maze.”

 

“That’s because the uber-sentry got out of the maze. I had to make a mad dash to avoid it getting on my tail again.”

 

“What’d it look like?”

 

“More streamlined it didn’t have the same design, it was black with red trim and a little gold. One eye looking sensor thing in the middle of its head.”

 

“No I haven’t seen anything like that.”

 

They stop and look at each other for a beat.

 

“Shiro!” They both yell.

****

 

 

Threat Assessment: Possible detection.

 

Resource Identified: Balmera crystal.

 

Niex takes a small laser and cuts a near perfect sphere from the Galra crystal and tucks it away. Retreating to the Red Lion’s hanger, the particle barrier lowers and the lion opens allowing the sentry inside, not the pilot’s area, but the hold. It places the crystal in a small satchel next to the bayard.

****

 

 

“So you’re telling me that there might still be a Galra sentry active and on board?” Shiro sighs rubbing his head.

 

He looks at Coran, “is there any chance that it might have deactivated on its own without orders?”

 

“There’s a chance but that’s not too likely,” Coran says checking the castle diagnostic systems for any signs of it.

 

“From what I’ve found in the dead sentries they seem to operate under their preprogrammed guidelines until either destroyed or given instructions by someone with admin privileges.” Pidge says looking around Coran at the console.

 

“Okay then until we’re sure that the sentry has been dealt with we don’t leave the bridge unguarded, keep your communicators on at all times and your rooms locked,” Shiro looks over the group.

 

Hunk frowns, “if I could I wouldn’t leave my room with a killer robot running around… Uh guys, what about Lance?”

 

Allura and Coran remain on the bridge but everyone else dashes to the medical bay.

****

 

 

Threat Assessment: Detected, remain uncaptured, enemies in two castle chambers.

 

Assessment Review: New priority, retrieve weapons and portable shield generator from armory.

 

Niex moves through the vents and maintenance tunnels to the armory to retrieve its master’s items. Lacking the facial features to do so it does not frown, however it knows its master will be most displeased with the deconstructed state of his thermal blade.

 

His dagger and shield generator are both still active though, as is the armor save the helmet. Niex retrieves it all.

****

 

 

Sleeping in the medical bay is not comfortable, “can we wake him up yet?” Pidge groans stretching the kinks from her back.

 

“Just a tick more,” Allura says slapping Pidge’s hand away from the pod.

 

“What even is a tick?”

 

“You know, a time slice. Coran do you have a ticker on you?”

 

“Right here,” Coran says holding up what looks like a stopwatch type device.

 

“So, are ticks faster than seconds?”

 

“Dunno, let’s check,” Pidge says pulling out her own stop watch app.

 

“Are we having a clock party?” Says a half asleep Lance.

 

“Lance!” Hunk wraps his friend in a hug forceful and fast enough that Lance can only offer a squeak of protest.

 

“Yeah buddy missed you too.”

 

He backs up against one of the pods to brace himself, then he noticed how everyone tensed, “what?”

 

He turned around and there was, a guy, another human, “he wasn’t with the prisoners you rescued was he?”

 

“Uh, no, he was, with Sendak.”

 

“Oh, uh good, so team Voltron saved another human prisoner huh?”

 

“Not quite…” Allura’s voice is strained, “why don’t we get you some food then we’ll tell you about it.”

 

Lance perks up at that and his expression turns sultry, “are you asking me out on a date?”

 

Allura’s attempt at a diplomatic smile withers and dies.

 

Shiro gently pushes Lance out of the med-bay “c’mon Casanova we’re done here.”

 

This also happened to be the time Pidge decided to explain that Pidge is a nickname and Katie is in fact a girl.

 

The castle is a ship.

 

The other healing pod occupant was actually a Galra, and a bad guy.

 

And their prisoner.

 

And the red paladin, which, “has the Red Lion gone senile?!”

 

There’s a disapproving rumble in the back of Lance’s head.

 

And there might be a killer robot running around the ship.

 

“And you guys left me alone!?”

 

“We didn’t know about the killer robot at the time!”

 

“STILL!”

 

“Enough, Lance, you’re fine and if there is still a killer robot on board we’re taking precautions. Sendak’s pod has been voice keyed to us, the healing pods can’t be locked but we can keep them on ice and guarded, and the Bridge is the same way. Lock your room while your there and we should be fine.” Shiro’s voice is placating.

 

Lance huffs and they can finally get on their way.

****

 

 

They end up following a distress signal to a couple of marooned aliens, and a marooned robot. They seem nice enough, though Hunk says he has suspicions about their story, but his evidence is based around how their ship is broken. Which includes a lot of jargon.

 

“Surprised you’re responding to a couple of drifters like us, this territory belongs to a nasty bugger named Sendak.” Then Rolo’s face twists, “heard he went and got himself some new muscle too. Zarkon must have decided Sendak’s still his favorite.”

 

“How so?” Shiro’s curious, Rolo mentioned losing his leg during a his planet’s fall to the Galra. Something they have in common.

 

“Heard from a resistance buddy of mine that he’s managed to snag the Blood Knight into his service. The quiznaking Hunting Hound.”

 

“The what?” Shiro hopes the alarm in his voice is mistaken for simple caution.

 

“One of the Empire’s nastier fighters, has this, uncanny ability to find people,” Pidge perks up at that.

 

“I’ve heard tales that Ulippa fell because he tracked an injured fighter to the medical base. I fought against him when I was still part of my planet’s army, our leader, our shaman, we should have gotten away, no one knew about the secret tunnels but the Shaman. No one in our squad had time to inform the Galra, yet he was there, hunting us, he shrugged off lightening and fire.” Rolo grips his knee above the mechanical leg.

 

“We failed that day, crushed by him. If you run into him, get away, just, run.”

 

Shiro looks at Rolo for a minute the naked fear on his face is statement enough, then he notices Lance trying to sneak Nyma towards the castleship.

 

“Lance, no visitors.”

 

“But Shiro I was just.”

 

“Killer robot Lance.”

 

Lance pales and walks back to Shiro, "uh right, sorry.”

 

After their ship is fixed up, though Hunk is still certain it was sabotaged, they takes off.

 

“Seems our friend in the med-bay has a reputation out among the stars.”

 

Pidge walks up to him, worried, “Shiro, he said he fought Matt. What, what if he...”

 

Shiro puts an arm on her shoulder, “I guess we will need to wake him up then, not until after the Balmera, when we can all keep an eye on him.”

****

 

 

The battle for the Balmera is very difficult, first dealing with the automated defenses, which requires all three available paladins with Pidge dropping BLIP scanners. Shiro takes out the generators with a jaw blade then joins Lance and Hunk on the cannon, it has to rotate so the target the moving parts, hitting it from all sides, eventually destroying its mechanisms.

 

“Alright, Lance, you and I will take care of those fighters, let’s go.”

 

Sneaking through the caves is a mess, “so how are we supposed to deal with this? If we enter a firefight we’ll hurt the Balmera.” Lance looks around, “Shiro, think we can get into the control tower and close the doors on them?”

 

Shiro looks up and squints, “possibly, lets go. And Lance,” Lance turns to him, “good thinking.”

 

Lance is preening again and Shiro’s slightly regretting the positive reinforcement.

 

“Ugh, this is all in Galra gibberish.”

 

“On Sendak’s ship Pidge said most Galra tech needs either other Galra tech, like a sentry or a Galra to access it. My arm should work.”

  
“Huh, so maybe having a Galra paladin would come in handy?”

 

Shiro frowns, “maybe...”

 

Lance looks at him, “so uh, any idea who he is? Hunk said he knew your name.”

 

“No, his voice, and the armor is... familiar but I can’t place it.”

 

“We could just wake him up and ask.”

 

Shiro frowns, he doesn’t like this, not one bit.

 

It turns out to be a trap because of course it does, “everyone fall back to your lions!”

 

“The castle ship is taking heavy fire, diverting nonessential power to the shields!” Coran yells.

 

“Hurry paladins!”

****

 

 

Assessment Review: Battle, staff minimal, all remaining personnel location, bridge.

 

Niex makes its way to the med-bay.

 

Priority Update: Free Master.

****

 

 

Keith’s thoughts are slow, like water moving through a frozen stream, not full dreams barely sensations. Then he can feel them quickening, thawing. His eyes open, he can’t move, he can twitch his fingers, but nothing more, its cold, so very cold.

 

Then Niex is there, in front of him, it pulls back it’s hand and punches into the pod stopping just short of his face. The glass doesn’t shatter, merely dissolves, and he sinks into the sentry’s arms feeling slowly coming back to him.

 

His chest doesn’t hurt, his breathing is fine, even the minor aches from the crash are gone, “status report,” he snarls.


	6. Crystal Venom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The castle is trying to kill the paladins, and so is one of the paladins.

“I’m, actually really confused right now,” Keith rubs his temples in Red’s cabin. Niex caught him up to date, up to and including the current state of affairs on their way.

 

“We are enemies, and I made this clear, challenging both Takashi, and Pidge, the black and green paladins respectively to duels which were interrupted and fled from. I was gravely injured, and about to die. Instead of doing the pragmatic and reasonable thing of killing me, or if they must keep their sanctimonious hands clean, letting me die. They put me in a magic healing pod. Then gave you free reign of the castle. Enough free reign to secure my armor, and weapons, admittedly not my thermal blade, but the red bayard. Is this an accurate summary.”

 

Niex cocks it’s head to the side, “affirmative, that is the events while you were unconscious, oversimplified perhaps.”

 

“Right then,” Keith clips the red bayard to his armor’s belt, “lets go punish poor decision making skills.”

****

 

 

If the machine monster in this coffin was like the last one Shiro hoped they’d be able to beat it the same way again. Until they could form Voltron they were a crippled force. Until they could convince the Red lion to choose a new paladin, or the current paladin to join them. Two things that felt very distant now, especially with them trying to decide whether or not to even wake him.

 

This monster is very different from the first, it has no real weak spots, it just keeps firing at them. Lance tries again to encase it in ice, Hunk rams into the back of it’s legs once they are frozen.

 

Shiro and Pidge try to lure it off planet, nothing works, worse, Allura is putting her life at risk trying to save the balmera.

 

The beast decides this is too good a target to pass up and begins to charge it’s larger laser.

****

 

 

Keith makes it to the bridge and begins hunting for the system to begin the take off sequence, “with them all on the balmera I bet I can fly this to Central Command and ditch them at the same time. Then Zarkon can just have the commanders mop up. I bet the castle and the recovery of Red will make him more than willing to overlook my part in Sendak’s miserable misadventure.”

 

Keith stares at the interface, he tries and fails to actually interface with it. “Okay, so this is keyed or something, alright, I can, handle this, I’m sure. Niex, help me reroute the systems and start the launch on the hardware end.”

 

“You are suggesting we try and open the control panels and hotwire a ten thousand deca-phoebs old flying fortress that cannot fully be explained by science?”

 

“Do you have a better idea?”

 

“No.”

 

“Then help me out.”

 

After a small amount of time in the control system’s innards Keith finds himself accosted by mice. The mice run past him and to the crystal array just out of his reach. And they begin realigning the crystals. The small pink mouse begins emphatically pointing towards the activation panel while it holds it’s crystal in place.

 

“Niex, I think either I’m still in the cryopod, or I’ve gone insane. Because it looks like I have a bunch of mice showing me how to hot wire the castle.”

 

Niex examines the scene before them, “you are neither of these things as I too am witnessing the aberrant behaviors of the mice.”

 

“Oh good, nice to know reality is the crazy one,” Keith looks at the panel, “well whatever not like I’m getting anywhere otherwise.” He starts it’s activation sequence.

****

 

 

Just when it looks like Allura, Coran, and every Balmeran on the surface is about to be obliterated by the robeast’s cannon the particle barrier falls repelling the attack.

****

 

 

The castle shakes and Keith braces against the console he was just fishing around in. “Okay, that wasn’t launch!”

 

A view screen shows up with a number of alarms, including perimeter alarms, his eye twitches “those alarms work better if they activate _before_ we get shot.”

 

He looks at the mice, “okay, fine, not take-off, which I would have liked, but I also like not being blown to atoms by one of Haggar’s pets. So we’ll call this a net positive for all of you.”

 

The mice seem relieved to not have been destroyed, and also to have not pissed off the large angry red paladin.

 

They immediately scamper off into the tunnels from whence they came.

 

“Hey no! Comeback! I need the take-off sequence, take-off sequence!”

 

“Sir, perhaps this battle would be better served in the Red lion.”

 

“I’m not helping them.”

 

“No but should the castle’s defenses fall the lion would likely survive it.”

 

“Okay, good point, yes, then we can deal with the rest of this.”

****

 

 

The fall of the castle’s barrier is a miracle that allowed Allura to finish the ritual which combined with damage sustained by the paladins weapons allows the balmera to encase the robeast in crystal.

 

“Princess that was amazing,” Shiro smiles at her, Coran helping her to her feet.

 

“Thank you Shiro, but I wouldn’t have made it had the castle’s defenses not activated. How did that happen by the way? Coran?”

 

“Wasn’t me princess, I think we’ll need to get back to the castle, I’ll need to look at the systems in order to tell you how. You however are going to be resting first.”

****

 

 

After helping Allura to her bed Coran decides to take a look through the cameras to see exactly how the particle barrier fell in the nick of time. What he finds surprises him, their prisoner messing around in the castle’s systems.

 

Backtracking across the cameras, the unique sentry appears in the med bay, frees the lad. Apparently the transfer of power from the medical systems had triggered the thawing process. They then move into, presumably the vents and access tunnels where the cameras are blind.

 

“Paladins, our number four has escaped his cryo-pod and is now loose in the castle, so for the time being I’m going to say no guests.”

 

Worried he starts monitoring the security feed outside Allura’s room.

 

That’s when he notices someone trying to break into the system, “oh ho, not in this lifetime.”

 

Pidge arrives just as the system is breached, Coran manages to lock down the core systems but whoever it is doesn’t seem concerned. Almost treating the initial attempt to seize control of the actual system as a feint, once Coran sees the true target, the castle’s databanks, a download has already begun.

 

“Move,” Pidge takes over the console, “I’ve got it covered from here, is there an archive mainframe?”

  
“Yes, about two floors down.”

 

Shiro nods to him, “Lance, stay with Pidge, Coran I’ll go with you to secure the archive.”

****

 

 

“I got a very small download of the archives before I was locked out of the system, I managed to secure the data you requested sir.”

 

Keith looks over Niex’s shoulder, “what’d we get? Red mind bringing it up on screen?”

 

The monitors appear and display a Galra cruiser and a robeast, “Haggar’s pet, and can you run an ID on that ship?”

 

“I do not need to, it belongs to your great uncle, Emara’s father.”

 

“The paladins killed him?”

 

“Confirmed, no escape pods, no survivors.”

 

Keith examines the video playing in front of him, “well, now I’m not sure if I should kill them or buy them a brandy.”

 

“They are unaware of your relations sir.”

 

“It was a joke, now, if only Emara would show up, waste the paladins, and herself, my life would finally be sailing pretty.”

 

Red doesn’t approve of this line of thinking, “you’re not my mother and I’m an adult.”

 

“Sir, you qualify as a paladin now too do you not?”

 

“Yeah, still not sure what to do about that. Can’t really fly back to central with only Red. Zarkon will expect Black as well at the very least.”

 

Keith taps his chin, “Red, can we strengthen your communications array by piggy backing on the castle?”

 

Red sends a questioning tendril of thought his way.

 

“Lotor may be able to assist with this problematic situation,” he answers her.

 

“Hmm, not without a direct line to the castle systems, which would just let the paladins or Alteans listen in. Damn.”

 

The whole hanger goes dark.

 

“Oh what now?”

****

 

 

“This has never been attempted on an unwilling participant before,” Coran says hooking up a memory core to Sendak’s pod.

 

“I know but this is our best bet at finding information on the Galra, not to mention our wayward prisoner.” Shiro gives Sendak a suspicious look, it’s not like he likes the idea of going into someone’s head either.

 

It takes a great deal of time, the rest of the group wandering off, leaving Shiro and Pidge alone in the room. “C’mon Shiro, I need to check on the Galra crystal.”

 

“Shouldn’t someone stay and watch him?”

 

“It’s all automated though.”

 

“Go find Hunk, I’ll be fine here, if the Knight or his sentry show up I’ll call.”

 

Pidge looks dubious about this, “I don’t know man, he’s on his own now he might have resorted to being sneaky. Rolo seemed to talk like he was some kind of demon or something.”

 

Shiro gives what he hopes is a reassuring smile (it’s not it just looks exhausted,) I’ll be fine Pidge.

****

 

 

“Oh what now?” Lance grumbles when he hears Coran calling for help, still trying to rub the feeling back into his arms after getting stuck in a cryopod.

 

“Help, please someone! Heeeee-” Coran’s voice winds down like a warped recording and the airlock seals behind Lance and begins the ejection process.

 

“Oh no.”

****

 

 

Keith isn’t particularly keen on exploring the castle with just Niex at his side, but Red insisted there was something very wrong with the ambient energy.

 

And then proceeded to nag him until he decided to give a cursory examination of the issue. Something he himself can confirm, he holds his small Galra crystal and tries to focus. He can pick out individual energies, though the blue signature out of curiosity he follows it honing himself to separate it from the castle’s energy.

 

Which is what leads him to the airlock in the middle of depressurizing, with the blue paladin in it. This would be funny and remove a thorn in his side all in one go. Were he a more sadistic and less pragmatic man he’d leave the other to die in the vacuum.

 

“Niex get him out of there.”

 

His bayard shifts in his hand, becoming a small Altean version of his Galra pulse pistol. Niex opens the door and the two haul the struggling paladin to safety.

 

“Thanks for saving me man,” the blue paladin gasps.

 

Keith smiles, “it’s no issue,” he pulls his gun and aims it at the other’s head, “now be a good hostage and put your hands over your head.”

 

The paladin sighs and stands, then he tries to rush Keith and earns a shot burning a hole in his jacket.

 

He hesitates but still says, “you can’t shoot me, you need me alive.”

 

“Wrong, I can’t kill you,” he fires again this time grazing the paladin’s leg, “you’ll find extremities are a bit more open to interpretation.”

 

The Paladin holds his leg tears in his eyes, “move.”

 

“You shot me!”

 

“Don’t be such a kitten it’s just a graze.”

 

Then he gestures with the gun, “it’ll be a much worse wound if you don’t start walking.”

 

The paladin puts his hands on his head and starts walking, dramatically limping the whole way.

****

 

 

Lance is having a very bad, no good day. He woke up hoping for a breather only to find that not only is the castle officially trying to kill him, but also the bastard with the fancy fighter is the shoot first take hostages kind of bad guy. Which is maybe better than the leave you to die in space kind of bad guy but as far as steps up go it’s not a big one. The jerk shot him.

 

“How’d you even end up with the Empire anyway? I mean, Keith’s a total asshole name, but it’s a pretty human asshole name.”

 

“No.” It’s the only response he gets.

 

“No it’s not your name? No you’re not an asshole? No you’re not from Earth?”  


The Knight heaves a put upon sigh that is really not fair since he’s the one with the gun and the killer robot. “No we are not friends, comrades, or have an amiable relationship. you are my hostage I am your captor, you are a bargaining chip. Chips don’t talk.”

 

“Aw, what afraid I’ll say something to hurt your feelings? Like maybe calling you what you are which is a giant,” he doesn’t get to finish before the Knight makes an annoyed sound.

 

The sound is followed by “Niex, stun stick.”

 

There’s a white hot flash of pain in Lance’s shoulder as the electrified rod is jammed into him.  
  
“What the hell was that?” Lance shouts.

 

“Your punishment, every time you talk out of turn. If you don’t stop it’ll be enough to knock you out.”

 

“You’d lose your hostage.”

 

“I’ll have Niex carry you and still hold a gun to your head,” the Knight nods to the robot who shocks Lance again.

 

“No more speaking unless you are spoken to m’kay?”

 

The ship stars signaling a jump into a wormhole, “also move faster.”

****

 

 

The bridge is in chaos when they arrive, the princess sealed behind a particle barrier with, Keith blinks at this, the traitor king Alfor. “I was under the impression all of you were dead? Do Alteans just spontaneously pop back to life every ten thousand deca-phoebs?”

 

He shakes his head, “whatever, Princess! You will steer this ship to the coordinates of my choosing or you will be cleaning Blue’s brain matter off these consoles, am I clear?”

 

A group arrives behind him, Niex puts itself between them and him, Takashi activates his arm, the male Altean, Pidge and Yellow all look startled.

 

The princess barely seems to register their presence, “we’re going home, we’re going to Altea.”

 

She certainly sounds like she’s not all there, “Altea is dead, a corpse long since picked clean, turn this ship around or Blue joins it.” Keith shouts. His hostage whimpers but mercifully does not comment.

 

Allura seems to squint at him, like she’s waking from a dream, Alfor looks at her alarmed, “who?”

 

Then Allura’s gaze fills with hate, “YOU!”

 

Alfor snarls something before doubling over, “Allura you must stop this my systems they’re. We can walk among the flowers again.” Judging by the flickers it’s a projection of some kind.

 

“What the quiznak is going on here?” Keith snarls.

 

That’s when they exit the wormhole, in front of a star, a star about to explode.

 

“Ah, I see, you’re insane, well, this has been a waste, Niex!” He turns on his heel, Niex stuns Blue while he takes a shot at Pidge deflecting Takashi’s arm with his knife. The arm flickers for a moment and Yellow moves to stand between them and the door. Keith slashes at him and Niex takes a jab with the stun stick, causing him to flinch backwards.

 

They slip between the group and run down the hall towards Red’s hangar.

****

 

 

“We gotta go after him!” Lance shouts, probably more focused on revenge than the current situation.

 

“No we have to get out of here first,” Pidge yells back. “Princess can you open a wormhole?”

 

“I’m afraid not, I’m locked out of the system, I’ll need to disconnect the memory core first.”

 

“Princess if you do that then Alfor’s memories will be!”

 

“I know Coran but it’s the only way, slow down the castle buy me some time.”

****

 

 

Keith decides it’ll be better to make for the nearest star system on his own and just find his way to Lotor from there.

 

As soon as he’s out of the ship he notices the other lions trying to push the castle away, the Red lion translates what they’re doing.

  
“It wont work, not like that.”

 

_Not without all of us._

 

“Not my problem.”

 

_I wont survive the backlash of their deaths._

 

“….Quiznak”

 

The Keith, Red, and Niex dive towards the group.

****

 

 

Shiro’s startled by the surge of energy, the surge of thought and emotion that flows through him. He can feel, well, everything, all the lions and their raw power. Lance’s anxiety; coming from being a hostage to trying to save the castle. Pidge’s fear that she might die here before she has a chance to save her family. Hunk’s conviction that he’ll never see his family again, that saving Shay made the journey worth it. Mixed in is something else, a pure raw unyielding will to survive, it’s a will that will do anything, has done anything to keep itself going.

 

It’s a bedrock, one he and the rest of the group draw on to push the castle back, something they succeed in doing, it’s not fast enough to escape the blast, but it’s enough for Allura to take back the helm.

 

“Paladins! Wormhole open, return to your hangers we’re getting out of here.”

****

 

 

It was not what either Allura or Coran expected to find returning to the bridge, no lions but Voltron itself pushing the castle away from danger. Their drive to avoid extinction bringing them out of the abyss.

 

“I never thought I’d see the day again,” Coran says awed by it.

 

Allura opens a wormhole and tells the paladins to return, her emotions a storm within her. Voltron was formed, the Galra is the paladin, her father is dead again, by her hand, by that same Galra’s.

 

Once they are safe it’s equally surprising to find the Red Lion’s barrier up, though Allura realizes with bitterness, that it shouldn’t be.

 

“Why help us? Isn’t your way victory or death?” She shouts up at the pilot sitting in her father’s lion. It remains silent and unmoving.

 

Making a disgusted sound Allura turns and leaves.

****

 

 

Listening to the Altean princess shout at him from the floor Keith silently parrots her words with clear mockery. “Does she really think I helped because I wanted to? Victory or death, not pettiness then death, besides, there is no real victory in death.”

 

Red purrs to him, and the last real surprise of the day is his ability to fall asleep. There will be much to do in the morning.


	7. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oneiromancy: a form of divination based upon dreams; it is a system of dream interpretation that uses dreams to predict the future.

Keith has decided to try something, after all if one wants to have an advantage one must know their enemies. Waking in the small hours of the quintant Keith reaches out to Red, then he pulls out his crystal. Exhaling he focuses, feeling Red around him, her energy burning like the heart of a star. “I wonder, how in the cosmos it took me so long to realize your energy; that _you_ were with me? My whole life, my whole training, you were here augmenting me. Now, we shall see if the others have the same reach.”

 

He lets out a long hissing breath his features take on their more Galra appearance, Red’s energy flows through him. When he opens his eyes he’s standing above a field of white light the whole of the universe above him. The light twists up like a braid into a massive clear icosahedron that splits it into five colors, the colors form the aura of the lions around smaller figures. Each paladin, though he can see a great void, a hungering darkness siphoning off some of the pitch shadow of Takashi and his lion.  
  
“Emperor Zarkon,” he breathes, barely a whisper and yet the void seems to take notice of him, glowering with unknowable hunger, he stands straighter and salutes, “my lord.” The presence seems to scrutinize him for a moment before returning to the black paladin. Keith swallows and walks cautiously through the fields of the Astral Realm, he approaches Green first. Pidge and Takashi are both curiosities to him, but he is unwilling to risk Black and the Emperor’s ire should he fail.

  
Green looks down upon him and growls in warning, he keeps his body language calm and nonthreatening. He briefly touches her arm.

****

 

 

He’s there, in the dining room of a small house. The black paladin is there, as well as the rebel, he looks different, less hard, less fit, and he has the little paladin’s spectacles. Outside is grass and sunshine, but in the distance are desert and mountains, there’s an ache of familiarity, an ache that is his own, not a feeling stolen from this memory.

 

They are laughing enjoying each other’s company. The rebel looks at him, he looks taller but that’s only because this is her memory he reminds himself. “Alright Pidge open mine next!”

 

“I told you not to call me that jerk.”

 

A kindly woman enters the room carrying drinks “Kids, play nice at the table please.”

 

He watches it unfold, they are all so soft. How can one made of such powerful metal come from such a simpering indulgent environment? She has no badges at all.

 

Still something about this scene stirs something inside him. This must be on Earth, the realization should have been obvious from the start. He wants to push outward, to go explore, the confines of her memory are stifling and Green will not allow more than a momentary touch.

 

He returns to the fields of quintessence on the Astral Plane, Green rumbles, taking his measure, she seems, worried, Odd. Red leans closer to him and nuzzles him it’s a comfort as he steels himself, “the others, they are also human. They also carry memories of Earth.” And he has all the time in the world to drink those memories in.

****

 

 

Pidge’s dream changes, she walks through high vaulted halls, surrounded by strangers, she knows they’re family, she knows they are enemies. The halls a tall and dark, they are familiar, but they are frightening and strange, reminding her of the Galra cruiser. The figures are Galra, family? She realizes the strangeness of this and that the feelings running through her mind aren’t her own.

 

Suddenly there’s a knife in her hand and a sword falling towards her. Her instinct is to fall back to dodge to run. What she does is pull back but not far enough, no just far enough, she feels the steel bite her cheek, but she sees her knife glide across her attackers throat, feels warm blood spray across her.

 

It’s satisfying.

 

She wakes up, afraid.

****

 

He drifts to the yellow quintessence, there he sees the big one he touches the paladin’s shoulder.

 

He’s with an elder, the elder is still strong, and loves his family, he reminds Keith of his grandam. There are children scrambling for both their attention. “I got in guys! The Garrison accepted me!”

 

“Hunk that’s great news,” the yellow paladin’s sister, mother of these children.

 

“Soon there’ll be enough for everyone!” He says in the yellow paladin’s voice.

  
“Work hard for yourself first Hunk, we’ll get by we always have.” The elder says.

 

Ah, yes, the large one knows the importance of placing the family above himself. But they are weak and he only allows them to continue to be so by being so sacrificing and giving for them. He will learn, the universe teaches everyone eventually.

 

They aren’t fully outside but one wall is open, there’s a dirt road leading down to a beach and a vast ocean. There’s the smell of the see, of dust, of naked wood, and turned earth, and of food. So many different food smells, some are things Keith has no name for. It’s almost enough for him to lose himself in Yellow, no Hunk’s thoughts.

 

He’s stronger than that, his will was trained by one of the ten themselves, he’s not about to fall prey to his own art. He turns his back on the seductive scent of another’s home.

****

 

 

Hunk walks across the battlefield, he doesn’t know how but he knows where all the combatants are hiding, he can feel the bite of cuts, and weapons. They ripple off his energy shield, he finds them one by one.

 

One by one he ends them, their blood stains the ground. The air is cold, the ground should be frozen but with the spilled blood and movement of so many bodies the ground is a soup of effluvia. “damn cub nice job.”

  
There’s a huge Galra, more than twice his size with fluffy blue ears, “how many does that make?”

 

Hunk’s proud, “twenty two, how’d you do?”

 

“An even thirty.”

 

“Looks like I still have to catch up then.”

  
“Nah Ezor blew up a base, she’s sitting pretty at fifty.”

 

Hunk whistles, impressed, “we should team up, work on our efficiency, if we have to halve our points we’ll just have to take twice as much.”

 

“I like the way you think lil guy.”

 

Hunk wakes, trying to remember his sister, his granddad, his niece and nephew, and not the camaraderie of a murderer.

****

 

 

The blue one, the disappointment, the entertainment. It’s another birthday scene, this one has many, many, more guests. So large a family, it reminds him of his own House, but they are tripping over each other, there is no code of etiquette to follow.

 

He’s excited, this is his last birthday before going to the Garrison _, that word again?_ There’s so much food and he’s in his uniform. It’s too bright, Keith loathes it, but the paladin is proud.

 

“Excited for the rest of your life Lance?”

 

He smiles up at the man, “yes sir, I’m going to make pops proud!”

 

“You’ve already made him proud I’m sure, because we’re all proud.”

 

It’s chaos, and no wonder one of the small ones falls, a limb is broken, the celebration is over, he can feel little boy blue’s resentment, also his worry. Pathetic, if they fall they learn to pick themselves up if they don’t they are not worth your time.

 

Keith turns away, this scene is also indoors, the smell of food overpowered by the stench of a medical ward. There’s nothing here for him.

****

 

 

Lance is walking through a big room full of people, it’s amazing, there’s so many delightful foods, and drinks and all the people, Galra with stripes, and horns and scales and…

 

“Why does Dorma indulge him?”

 

“What does a _beliak_ like that think it’s doing here?”

 

“How dare she undercut us with this worthless thing?”

 

“Mutt, and mongrel, someone put it out of its misery.”

 

“Impure stain, a shame on our house, no wonder Krolia was banished, what poor taste, look at its soft pink skin, disgusting.”

 

There’s images over lapping them, his family back on Earth, back in Cuba, the harsh cruel words coming out of familiar mouths.

 

Lance wakes up and shudders feeling, not for the first time, the crippling empty loneliness of the castle; he shivers with it.

****

 

 

Keith walks to the black paladin, the lion is subdued, and he can feel Zarkon’s attention flicker to him again, briefly. He bows to the shadow low and filled with respect and deference, “may you reign for another ten thousand deca-phoebs, I desire only intelligence from this one, please allow me to pass.” The words are ash in his mouth, but his teacher taught him to shield his thoughts, and this is Zarkon, not Haggar. The ancient evil’s attention rolls off of him and back to the lion.  
  
Letting out his breath he finally moves to touch the first human to touch his spirit since leaving his father.

****

 

 

Black, the Champion, Takashi, Shiro, all names he will relish, his image is the only one not sickeningly sweet. Not terribly soft. It’s the Arena, he feels the paladin’s fear, tastes his need to survive like it’s his own. The feeling of the battlefield he dances with the paladin, he kills, he cuts, he is aware of himself, impassively watching from the stands.

 

How he remembers this fight, it had been the best one, the first taste. Now he’s not watching the dance he’s living it, the rush of battle, and the thrill of the hunt. He can feel Takashi’s desperation and fear, the way he’s sick with worry for himself. The act of pushing it all back, including the disgust he feels when he’s forced to end his opponents life.

 

He doesn’t understand, this fight had been honorable, if there was any unfairness it was how poorly equipped Takashi is in it. That he still won should be a point of joy, of pride, and exultation, why is his stomach churning with revulsion and shame?

****

 

Shiro is at first distracted by people talking about him, the tones are hushed and they give him wide berth. He can still hear them, their words are a small annoyance nothing more, and the fear in them is satisfying.

 

“I heard he’s a half-breed.”

 

“What? No way? Dorma’s way to persnickety about that kind of stuff.”

 

“I heard she banished the one who made that mistake, Emara wants it dead.”

 

“You can try I heard the stories from the front.”

 

“I was there,” a third voice, “that thing aint Galra that’s for sure, I think it’s something the Druids cooked up, you know Hazar had one on retainer for almost ten deca-phoebs?”

 

“Quiznack really? I guess I know where it cam-”

 

The whispers don’t stop but the fight starts so they become irrelevant, it shocks Shiro to see himself down in the Arena, dancing against a Galra twice his size, he knows this fight, his last fight. He stands up, or he wants to, he wants to walk out to turn away. He can’t it’s playing out.

 

He senses this isn’t his memory, the feelings not his own, because he hates this, hates these memories, but this? The feeling is, enraptured, like he’s watching the most beautiful thing he could be. Not only that, tentative hope, or relief? Like he might for once see evidence that he isn’t guilty of a crime he’s spent years imprisoned for.

 

That’s when he realizes, he realizes which seat he must be in.

  
Shiro eases awake, for the first time the dreams of the Arena haven’t terrified him.

****

 

 

The crystal returns to Keith’s outstretched palm, he frowns down at it, the paladins, they are too soft. Lotor will want to use them, but they are untried and untested, it is only luck that they have survived. If only he could contact the prince, if only.

 

Then he thinks, there may be something he can do, he can’t do it anymore tonight, and he must rest, but, tonight proves the plan forming in his mind is possible.

****

 

 

Shiro walks into the mess the next morning to see everyone hunched over their meals looking like the dead. Not quite everyone, Allura and Coran seem fine. Lance and Pidge glare at him, “how the hell do you look like you got a good night’s sleep?” And he has, the first he’s had since his imprisonment. Though in Lance’s comment there’s also an unsaid statement about his sleeping habits on any normal day. He’s relieved to have some respite from his nightmares though something about the dream, still fresh in his head, makes him worry.

 

“Allura, I have a question,” she looks up at him raising an eyebrow.

 

“When we form Voltron, is it possible that memories can be, I don’t know, imprinted on each other?”

 

Allura frowns, “I have certainly never heard of it happening before, though I suppose it is possible, there’s still a great deal about the lions I do not know. Why do you ask?”

 

“I remembered something from my time in the arena,” everyone perks up at this. “My last fight, but it wasn’t my memory, it wasn’t from my perspective. I think, I think I was seeing through the Knight’s eyes. Feeling what he felt.”

 

Pidge he notices touches her face running an unconscious gesture over her cheek bone.

 

Allura looks slightly disgusted, “I suppose it’s possible, but if that’s the case then you must be very cautious, because he could just as easily have gotten a peek into your own memories.” Once she says that everyone in the room winces. The implications are not something any of them are pleased to hear.

 

“I’m not keen on having any of you, no offense, rooting around in my head, I like the idea of a Galra general doing it even less.” Pidge grouses and is met by a chorus of agreement.

 

Coran frowns, “well we’ll need to discuss our prodigal paladin sooner or later, you formed Voltron, that’s proof he’s Red’s chosen. Also on that note I have a slight announcement of my own; until I am certain that the Galra crystal’s energies have been scrubbed from our systems I’m afraid no one here will be using the training deck for anything other than sparring, with each other. Other points that are off limits include the reactor, thrusters, teludav, and the energy array.”

 

Everyone looks mildly relieved at this. Until Lance speaks the one thing everyone’s thinking. “You told us that in order to be paladins we have to trust each other, except one of our paladins is a Galra general who tried to kill us. Repeatedly. How are we supposed to form Voltron like that?”

 

“We could shove him into space like we did Sendak,” Allura says mildly and it’s hard to tell if she’s joking. Coran makes a face, “princess I think that would only anger the Red Lion, and she’s picky enough as it is.”

 

Allura sighs, “I know Coran, and it was a jest… mostly.”

 

“Well whatever we decide will need to be done soon, we can’t hide out here in the fringes forever.”

****

 

 

Hunk can’t sleep, oh he feels tired, Coran had he and Pidge trying to purge the castle systems all day, but between the nightmare yesterday, and the discussion of Red today his brain won’t stop turning in circles. He decides a midnight snack might be helpful, he’s always slept better on a full stomach.

 

Making his way to the kitchen he flicks on the light to find the Knight and his robot, the Knight squinting at him in the sudden brightness over a bowl of food goo which he coils around a bit defensively.

 

The two stare at each other in bafflement (in Hunk’s case) and wary suspicion (in the Knight’s) for a few seconds then the Knight starts eyeing his bayard. “I’ll come back later.” Hunk says quickly before making a swift exit.

****

 

 

Red makes a fond chuffing noise, she’s laughing at them, Keith chooses to ignore her considering what he’s about to try he needs his strength. So he continues shoveling his third plate of nutrient paste into his mouth. He shoots a look Niex’s way, “why didn’t you apprehend him?”

 

“He made no threatening movements, and it seems unwise to antagonize the other paladins at the current time.”

 

Keith examines the sentry for a moment before shrugging and going back to his meal, one thing at a time.

****

 

 

Red seems concerned about him trying this, “don’t worry, this shouldn’t cause me any serious issues. Probably.”

 

“You should not strain yourself unnecessarily, the nutrient paste may suffice to keep you functional but it is a poor substitute for a meal. What you are about to do is an unnecessary risk, you could suffer severe complications or quintessence addiction.” Niex reports coolly.

 

“If I stay here it will be a moot point, I will not betray my people. So they have two options, keep me a prisoner, or kill me.”

 

Red is pained by this statement and he can feel it, he strokes the armrest and tries to touch her thoughts in return. “I know, but it must be done, they are untried, there’s no hope of them defeating Zarkon as they are. I won’t kill them, I won’t make a move until my lord has given me his orders.”

 

He holds his Galra crystal again, channeling Red’s energy and his own senses, pinpointing the locations he was to send updates to Lotor to. He reaches out across the void.

****

 

 

Narti is drawn from slumber, her dreams have always had a touch of farsight, but this is different, she can feel the memories of another. Keith, their wayward general, she knows he found Sendak’s secret the Red Lion of Voltron. They also heard that Sendak’s ship had been destroyed, along with everyone on board.

 

Her dream suggests otherwise, no not a dream, a message, Keith is alive, aboard the castle-ship of Voltron, he’s been claimed by the Red Lion as its paladin. Trapped, prisoner but not imprisoned.

 

She sits bolt upright, Kova complaining at the sudden movement. She scoops him up onto her shoulder, calming him as she makes her way to the prince. He will dislike being awoken, but must be informed immediately.


	8. Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Each one has a story, too bad the one wearing them can't remember most of those stories.

“So, that’s why he hasn’t reported in,” says Lotor, he might have tried to mask his surprise but given the shock of everyone in the room it’s a token gesture. “I suppose I should forgive him for being unreliable in this case. Locked behind enemy lines after being chosen to pilot a lion of Voltron does seem a good excuse,” Lotor’s tone is clearly facetious. Most of the generals were concerned about their undercover member though, the generals only have each other in a society as hostile to half-breeds as the Empire.

 

“Is there anyway to contact him back?” Narti shrugs, she may be gifted with raw talent but she is untrained. Not that this wasn’t by design, Acxa suspects the prince would sooner chew off one of his own hands than give her up to one of the Druids. “Perhaps making contact with these new paladins? I mean if they let him live maybe they’d be willing to go along with us?” Ezor asks with her usual optimism.

 

Lotor folds his hands in front of him, “doubtful, they are enemies of the Empire, and we are clearly Empire. Keith’s status as a paladin is likely the only reason they haven’t killed him.”

 

“Tried to kill him you mean, he’s one of us Lotor, I don’t think he’d go down that easily.” Zathrid’s defense of the boy is perhaps unsurprising considering the bond they’d formed on the front.

 

“Why hasn’t he tried to escape? If he has the lion then shouldn’t he have means of leaving?” Acxa ever pragmatic is the one to express this concern.

 

“He’s waiting for orders or suggestions from me, understandable, if he flees them and comes here or to the Empire then he’ll need something other than one lion to make up for his failure of Sendak. We couldn’t protect him and as a half-Galra he’d be expected more than the bare minimum to avoid punishment. My father is not kind to failure.”

 

The bridge is silent after this.

****

 

 

Keith can’t do more than hope that his efforts weren’t in vain. Unable to do anymore, spent by his ritual, he succumbs to the need for sleep.

****

 

 

Two quintants after the paladin’s nightmares Coran is running a late night system analysis one evening when the biorhythm scans pick up a foreign signature on the scans, pulling up the camera feeds he finds their errant paladin running laps through the castle. Occasionally he’ll do some form of acrobatics to break the monotony of just running.

****

 

 

For nearly a movement it goes like this, late at night, after other paladins have retreated to their rooms Coran follows the Knight, this Keith, while he takes a number of elaborate routes through the castle. Maybe he should be concerned about a Galra general having free reign of the castle, but he also remembers how much energy Galra, particularly Galra juveniles, tend to have.

 

Occasionally the sentry will join him, the two hunting and fighting each other. Learning from each encounter, if number five’s reaction to the small robot the stranded resistance had with them is any indication it’s likely she’ll have to be pried away from the sentry by a whole pack of yalmores. Once the paladins can all be in the same room without killing each other. Which would likely require the sentry to remain intact, number four seems quite attached to it.

 

It’s in the middle of one of these that Shiro comes in, “pity you two missed each other on the way in,” Coran remarks popping a bit of late night snack into his mouth. Keith does a fairly impressive flip off one wall to avoid his sentry’s stun stick. Then he attempts to sweep the robot’s legs from underneath it only to be deflected. While it might be a pity it was clearly by design, Keith seems adept at avoiding any late night wandering paladins.

 

“Are they attacking each other?” Shiro asks frowning, his expression unreadable.

 

“Nope sparring, they do this every night, quite entertaining to watch actually.”

 

“You just watch them train?”

 

“Sometimes they just run laps, less interesting that.”

 

“You haven’t reported this?”

 

“They don’t do any harm, and Galra are a high energy species, expecting him to stay in Red or her hangar would just be cruel. If you are to have any chance at working together then he needs to feel at home, besides I lock him out of the core systems.”

 

He’s tried to break into them, repeatedly, but that’s not something number one needs to hear about right now.

 

“I see,” Shiro seems to consider this for a moment before settling in to watch himself.

 

After a few quiet moments he asks, “do you think he’ll try to escape?”

  
“I have no doubt, he seems to have been a model soldier if he was made a general to Zarkon’s right hand despite his blood and Sendak’s clear dislike of him.”

 

“You seem pretty okay with him being a paladin.”

 

Coran frowns, he doesn’t like the idea, not at all, but the Red Lion made her choice, he can’t change it and something tells him killing her current choice will just make her mad. They can’t afford to wait another ten thousand deca-phoebs for her to cool down enough to choose a new paladin. So he’s been working on coming to grips with this new paladin and trying to figure out a way to coax him to their side.

 

Unfortunately the Empire has almost certainly changed in the time he and Allura have been in stasis. Which means short of asking number four and hoping for an honest answer he has no idea what codes of honor have survived. If any have.

 

“I wouldn’t say I’m okay with it so much as trying to work with it. Red is, well she’s very particular. She’s also an excellent judge of character though. If she thinks that this Galra will be the best second for you then there’s a good chance she’s seeing something we aren’t.”

 

“Or the Empire managed to tamper with her.”

 

“Perhaps, did you sense anything like that when you formed Voltron?”

 

“No, nothing like that, just...”

 

Coran raises a brow at Shiro.

 

“I don’t know how to describe it, it was like a stubborn drive to live. Like, like he wouldn’t let us give up, because surrender in that moment was death, and the idea of it was abhorrent to the very core of his being.”

 

Coran turns back to the screen with a contemplative hum.

****

 

 

One thing about humans he’s noticed is they are creatures of routine and habit, in spite of knowing they have two enemies on board their ship. Though they likely don’t see him as a threat. Armed though he may be, he’s a prisoner until he can unseal the Red Lion’s hangar. He could break into the general hangar but they’d just jump and he’d be without Red.

 

He’s not going to leave her, they belong together, he can even now feel her rumbling as though asleep. Even unconscious her presence is like an ember at the center of his being.

 

The one handy thing about the paladins routines is that he can avoid them. Sneaking into the kitchen when they aren’t there. The large one has taken to leaving a plate of food for him. The first time he suspected it was carelessness. Which he was fine taking advantage of once it was deemed safe, the most basic survival kits all include a diagnostic tool to test for toxicity. However it kept happening, which was, well, unnerving. He has access to their kitchen’s nutrient paste, why would the large one feel the need to leave food out like he’s some kind of stray they’re attempting to make a pet of.

  
No, he’s a soldier a warrior of the Galra, he leaves the plates, he has his pride and his honor, he will not be domesticated.

 

The only paladin who seems to understand a varied schedule is Takashi, who seems to make himself scarce, he does not shower with the others (though the green paladin does not either.) He eats with them but he trains at different times. Unless they are training together. Takashi is something of an enigma in his movements. Which is why he finds himself hiding in a stall when his shower is interrupted. Cursing silently, because all of his clothes are near the door, hidden behind the place for them to avoid anyone stumbling in and realizing he’s unarmed.

 

He tenses waiting for Takashi to start removing his shirt to try and grab his clothes and slip out.

****

 

 

Shiro almost missed the presence of someone with him in the showers, he whips his shirt off and lashes out grabbing the Knight’s arm and snarling, “what are you doing in here?!”

 

The Galra looks at him, his face a mask of cold disdain, “bathing.”

 

It’s then that he notices the clothes bundled under the other’s arms, and the fact that he’s naked. Completely.

 

“Uh, sorry, you uh, should have said something,” Shiro hurriedly releases him blushing furiously. Seriously? He doubted anyone wanted to walk in on their guest; (okay prisoner. He’s their prisoner,) In the shower.

 

The general looks completely fed up, “my modesty is not worth my life, that is one of the first lessons I learned.”

 

“Huh?” Okay that, was, completely out of nowhere.

 

“I’m your prisoner, and while I’m never fully unarmed, I’m not like you, I don’t get to keep my real weapons with me at all times.”

 

It isn’t until he notices the general, Keith, staring warily at his arm that he realizes how exposed he himself is. His first instinct is to cover his scars, or the one’s he can.

 

The general looks terribly confused by this, “why do you hide your badges?”

 

“My what?!” because no, no this kid did not just say what he thought he said.

 

Keith makes a strange strangled growl, “your...” Before settling with tracing one of the lines of puckered flesh on his own body. Which, now that Shiro’s paying attention is absolutely riddled with scars of his own. Enough to rival Shiro’s actually.

 

“Scars?” Shiro whispers.

 

“Yes!” Keith announces pleased, “the Galran word means both things, and I never really learned the other common meaning.”

  
The tone of voice suggests the closest thing to an apology Shiro’s heard from the other, it’s also dismissive. The combination is very strange to hear.

 

“Well, I don’t feel the same way, I don’t even know how I got most of these.”

 

“Do you want to know?”

 

Shiro’s brain halts for a moment, “what?”

 

“I don’t know all of them, but I know a number of them, having either witnessed, or heard of it.”

 

That’s right, he’s met the Galra general before, the Blood Knight, and trusted him enough to give his name?

 

“Uh, maybe later” he says indicating the other’s nudity and his own near nudity.

 

The general laughs, and it’s not a mean sound, it’s a genuinely good natured one, “of all the things to be squeamish about. I don’t think I’ll ever understand you people.”

 

Then his face goes serious, “if you want to know about them you must swear a ceasefire.”

 

Shiro blinks at him, “what?”

 

Keith frowns, “on your honor and your title of paladin, for this exchange of information I am under your protection, neither you nor the paladins will attempt to harm me. Those are my terms, you want to know what I know you abide by them.”

 

None of the paladins had the intention of harming him. Something Keith either doesn’t know or doesn’t believe, based on the fact that he went so far out of his way to hide the simple act of bathing proves that. (Despite none of the other castle occupants wanting to have the experience Shiro is currently having.)

 

“Uh, sure, if that’s what you’re okay with?”

 

Keith doesn’t move, the tension in his body doesn’t release, “swear it.”

 

“I uh, swear on my honor as a paladin that no one in the castle will try to kill you.”

 

Keith scoffs, “does Earth not have a single creed of honor? No formal declarations?” Despite his words he dresses himself, which he does far from Shiro and never taking his eyes off the bigger man. Once he’s dressed, a very dark gray sleeveless shirt with red trim and loose black pants. It reminds Shiro a bit of his gi from his martial arts days.

 

“I will return to Red’s hangar, if you want to know of your badges you will come to it and announce yourself.”

 

Shiro doesn’t like the idea of being stuck in the same place as the Knight, his sentry and the lion. “How about you stop by my room after lights out, you know when you normally start your late night runs.”

 

Keith puffs up looking alarmed, and reminding Shiro of a startled cat.

 

“Cameras, Coran and I have been keeping an eye on your excursions.”

 

Keith considers this for a moment before nodding once and leaving. Shiro decides to take his shower and try not to think about, well, any of this, better to think about it later. Probably ask Coran about that weird ‘on your honor’ stuff. Because, sure maybe the Galra don’t work quite like faeries, that sounded like some fairy shit.

 

They do have wizards, maybe Shiro should have considered the full implications of making an oath.

 

Oh well. Too late now.

****

 

 

Coran is listening to Shiro’s description of his encounter, he thinks a bit about it.

  
Pidge looks up from her screen at them, “you ambushed our Galra while he was in the shower and you didn’t take him out? Amateur mistake Shiro.”

 

“I think he probably would have escaped Pidge, he seemed to be expecting someone to try and kill him. Also you’re the closest to him in size so it’s your clothes he’d probably steal. Unless you want to run into a naked half-Galra.”

 

She scrunches her face in disgust, “ugh fine be that way.”

 

Shiro shakes his head and turns back to Coran, “you know more about the Galra than I do, can we trust him to keep his ceasefire?”

 

“Well, sorry to say but you’re probably more up to date on Galra culture than I am after our time in stasis. I might be able to give you a better answer if I knew what House he’s from. Some are better at following the ancient codes than others.”

 

Pidge pipes back up, “what do you mean by house?”

 

“The Houses are like clans, they all have some form of genetic relation to each other, the most powerful of them make up the senate that acts as the day to day leadership for the Empire. It’s a system that predated Zarkon’s reign.”

 

Pidge thinks for a bit, “when he did his duel intro bit he said he was of house Hazard or something like that. Edgy name.”

 

“Do you perhaps mean Hazar?”

 

“Yeah, that’s it, so answer?”

 

Coran nods, “Hazar was an old house even when Zarkon as young, dating back to one of the early empresses I believe. Very staunch adherents to the codes of conduct and honor. It made them a highly trusted organization which in turn made them a very wealthy organization. Again, that might have changed but if it hasn’t then you should be fine, as long as you don’t insult his honor. Insinuating that he’s not truly Hazar or that he will violate his oath will give him grounds for a duel.”

 

“We could all just jump him at that point,” Pidge points out.

 

Coran sighs, “and prove to our wayward red paladin that we are savages without a shred of courtesy or respect? He’ll redouble his efforts to flee or bring in the Empire, assuming he doesn’t just fight us to the death right then.”

 

“Wow, these guys take their oaths seriously.”

  
“It’s their livelihood, the trust and respect of keeping their word and of harshly punishing those who break covenant with them. It kept them in power for a very long time.”

****

 

 

Shiro is not sure how he feels, he’s certainly eager to hear what this guy has to say, how he came to be, a half Galra, half human? How had he become a general, especially one of a possibly very powerful family. How does he know Shiro? Shiro’s not actually too keen on learning what he did or what was done to him in the arena, mostly it’s an excuse to get the other to come to him.

 

His thoughts are interrupted by a knock at his door, the Knight is standing there at, what can only be called, attention. Back straight, shoulders squared, one hand tightly clasping the other wrist behind his back, his face is a mask. Shiro gestures for him to come in his stride is fluid and purposeful. It’s easy to see him as a general, his posture, his stance, the aloof coldness of his affect. Not to mention the scars crisscrossing his arms or the line across his cheekbone. That’s not mentioning the large ugly patches over his shoulder blades, or the branching pattern across his chest hidden by his clothes. Those are scars that only Shiro, and possibly Coran knows about.

 

He has a hard time imagining the Knight’s thoughts; considering their differences in attitude, Shiro going out of his way to wear long sleeves and gloves. Refusing to take them off even when sparring with the others. Luckily they’re usually in the paladin armor so if anyone’s noticed his behavior they haven’t said. Keith though, he wears them proudly, like each one is a reason he should be feared. Which, maybe they are.

 

“Where would you like to begin?” Keith asks, his tone portraying nothing but honest curiosity, his face a neutral mask.

 

“I’m honestly not sure if I want to know about them.”

 

“Then I’ll leave.”

 

Shiro stops him, “you know you’re a paladin right? Like we should probably try to work together or at least not try to kill each other.”

 

“I have never tried to kill you, you would know if I had.”

 

This guy is just full of startling little bombshells, “what was that on the bridge?”

 

“An attempt to apprehend you, I’ve seen you fight Takashi, you are not an opponent I will dishonor by holding back. You also have information I would like, killing you is counter productive. I’d much rather capture you alive.”

 

The matter-of-fact tone he delivers, what is likely his intention to return Shiro to slavery is chilling.

 

“Okay, well, that aside” Shiro begins but Keith narrows his eyes and cuts him off.

 

“I am a servant of the Empire, I am Galra, that will never change, do not attempt to undermine my faith or loyalty to my people. I am with them and they are with me. We have an accord, that is all. You said you wanted to know about your scars, that you would not be so dismissive of them.” Keith sneers a bit, “though frankly, the stories should be meaningless.”

 

“Excuse me? This is a year of my life.”

 

“A year that you survived, one that put you through terrible trials, those are the marks that show you are capable, that your will to survive outshone any others you faced.”

 

That statement chills Shiro, because it means he’s killed, it means that he took life in the arena. “You really don’t get it do you? I mean you’re just a kid but still...”

 

“I am an adult, I am a general, I am a viscount, a title I only have because of my ability on the battlefield. You spent a year in the arena, it’s respectable, I can tell you that your fights were nothing short of resplendent. I have earned my badges training for war, and then five years on the front lines of war.”

 

“Five years?! How old are you?” Maybe Galra age slower and despite his appearance he’s like seventy or something.

 

“Eighteen,” Keith puffs up his chest a bit.

 

Shiro balks, that means he was on the battlefield, fighting for his life, taking the lives of others, when he was thirteen. Shiro wants to reach out and pull him close, to hold him and never let him see that side of the universe again. He hates Zarkon even more, because, no wonder he’s so stiff, so paranoid and warped. “How? How could they let you on the battlefield? Is that just what Galra do?”

 

Will Shiro have to kill children?

 

“Hardly, most are trained in the barracks, my situation meant that the front was safer.”

 

“Safer?” Shiro tries to avoid shouting but it’s getting difficult because this is becoming the list of things I didn’t need to know about the Empire.

 

“Assassins are harder to sneak into a close knit squad, it’s difficult to find a single soldier on a battlefield that may span entire star systems, and Emperor Zarkon dislikes the front being disrupted by political in fighting.”

 

“Assassins?”

 

“Do you want to know about your scars or not?” The other snaps, because apparently Shiro’s managed to trip one of his sore points. “If you continue to waste my time I’m leaving.”

 

“Okay, sorry, I just, this is very different from how we do things on Earth.” That definitely earns a sneer.

 

“Oh I have seen how things are done on Earth,” he looks Shiro in the eye and Shiro realizes he’s alost puffing himself up in response to the shorter man. Like some kind of threat display.

 

“Lance has a large family, but there’s no discipline to it, Pidge’s is smaller but entirely too soft, Hunk’s grandfather gives far to much of himself to people who are unwilling to strive beyond their station. Earth is soft, it’s weak, and I can name only one person that I could say I’m impressed by to come out of it. And even you are sickened by the few memories of violence you possess.”

 

How does he know all of this? It makes Shiro nervous to say the least, almost too nervous to catch the small compliment slipped into the conversation. Somehow mentioning it seems like it’ll just give him a reason to leave. “Alright, okay, I get it, so how about the one on my nose, it’s probably the most obvious. How’d I get the scar on my nose?” He decides to ask instead.

 

“Only in your current garb, your right calf, and the three lines on your back are larger.” That statement is clearly more for his benefit, to wipe away any doubt as to whether or not this guy knows him.

 

“The one on your nose wasn’t from the arena,” that gets Shiro’s attention, “that one is from my cousin being a territorial dreg who likes to mark her trophies.” The last half is spat with no small amount of venom

 

There is a lot in that statement to unpack, he already knew about the Galra’s treatment of prisoners, but Keith’s family having a direct involvement in his capture is a disturbing notion to him. Though, Keith seems just as unhappy about this as he is. Which says something, Shiro has no idea what that something is because Keith is odd even outside the alien culture thing, but it’s something. There are a few things that are starting to click into place though, but he’s not going to think about them until he has the time and quiet. Namely when he’s not currently staring down a soldier trained to kill since they were a child. Even if they still more or less look like one.

 

“Alright, since you know about those two big ones what are they from?”

 

“The three lines on your back are from a Ythian pack beast, something like a t-rex. You took it down masterfully, hamstringing it and using it’s own weight to lethally cut it’s hide. Clean and quick across the throat” Keith emphasizes this with a slashing movement across his own neck.

 

How does Keith know what a t-rex is?

 

“The one on your thigh is from your last fight before Haggar chose you for the augmentation experiment. A particularly nasty and short sighted disgraced commander named Faulz decided to try and reclaim his place in favor. He was only the second of the trained opponents you faced, he had better weapons and armor too.”

 

Shiro can feel himself sweating, that’s right, he can remember the leering face of his opponent.

 

“Pity he was such a sadist. He spent a great deal of time trying to torture you.”

 

He remembers the pain, cuts almost artistically carved in his flesh.

 

“Broke your leg, I understand the bone had punctured the skin.”

 

He can remember the indescribable agony of it, of the Galra turning to the crowd to gloat. “Stop,” he whispers.

  
“That had been his fatal mistake, even though it meant using one leg to stand, and putting some weight on your injury, you managed to run him through when his back was turned the fool.”

 

“Stop, Keith, stop now.”

 

“Not dishonorable by the way, onus is one him for turning his back on a breathing enemy.”

  
“KEITH I SAID STOP!”

 

Keith looks shocked, genuinely startled, then he frowns, no he scowls, anger clouding his features. “Why do you act so ashamed!” Keith snarls, and suddenly Shiro’s memories are snapped away from him replaced by confusion.

 

Then he’s angry, because kid or not Keith doesn’t know a thing about him or his feelings. “I killed someone, I was given to Haggar because-”

 

“You’re the strongest, even compared to a Galra, your enemy, who was willing to torture you to prove himself to Haggar. You stood up, you killed him, you did what even Galra would have found nearly impossible it was-” The general cuts himself off and goes quiet.

 

“What?”

****

 

 

 _Fuck it, I’ll just kill them all later anyway_ Keith thinks bitterly, “it was the first time I considered maybe my other half wasn’t the genetic laming I first thought.”

 

“Oh,” is all Shiro can say, because, what do you say to that?

****

 

  
Keith strides past him and were Shiro not very distracted he would have seen that his face had gone very red, and not just from anger. Before he leaves he does say one last thing, “I was wrong, while you are clearly an exception, you are still only an adequate one at that.”

 

Shiro sinks down on his bed, staring up at his arm, Galra, officers who were still a part of Zarkon’s army had been willing to fight him to the death to get the arm he’s cursed since he woke up with it. The one person in the Galra Empire that could be sympathetic to them is a child soldier who clearly has very complicated feelings about his human half. Assassins made the front lines of a war safer than school or whatever the Galra equivalent is.

 

Shiro’s always prided himself on his sense of empathy, he can’t help but laugh to himself because this guy’s probably testing him more than anyone else. “Oh man, Adam I could really use someone more levelheaded right now...”


	9. Friction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The absolute cluster truck that is living with a general of the Empire, also more hostage taking, like this might as well be a running gag at this point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT PLEASE READ: So I am taking part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) between this and school my time is stretched very thin. Have no worries the updates will still exist but that existence will be much more tenuous so there will be gaps particularly between the stories themselves. However a happy trade-off for this is my nanowrimo novel will be going up here.

Ever since Shiro’s strange interaction Keith has been avoiding them, well, more than usual, the Galra general was never something that could be considered sociable. Between his attempts to take over the castle, escape, and avoid the crew it’s a wonder how Coran can have any optimism regarding the red paladin.

 

Allura herself is fine with the arrangement, the two have stumbled across each other, the first time Keith had attempted to take her hostage only for her to disarm him. What resulted was a hand to hand fight that ended in the two of them exhausted, bruised, and panting. She’s run into him on the training deck with his robot. Tempted to release the gladiator the possible corruption of the system is the one thing that prevents her from doing so, she still activates the drones since their weapons are non-lethal.

 

He’s responded on at least one occasion by breaking into her room and rifling through her things. Mostly they trade barbs or threats. There are days where the loss of her father, then his AI, the loss of Altea, and so many other things weighs on her. On these occasions she throws herself into the archives, learning from the battles of the past. Reminding herself where Voltron came from and what it used to mean.

 

She thinks back to the snatch of thought she heard in the Red Lion’s hangar. Perhaps the Red Lion, perhaps the damage her own isolation finally making itself known. Whatever that voice was, it was right, not just about the Galra though. All the paladins need guidance, even Shiro did not seem fully aware of the Galra threat. She let out a bitter laugh, she herself is sharing the castle with a Galra; could she really berate Shiro for not knowing the threat?

 

Arriving at the archives and keen for some peace and quiet of her own she’s unhappy to see the Knight, he gives her a suspicious look. She pointedly ignores him, going out of her way in making him feel unwanted has only resulted in him needling her. So instead she walks by him, he’s reading a book, while most of the data came in the form of files accessible on the data pads some texts were salvaged. These texts usually pertain to Altean history or alchemy, the thought of him pawing through any of them makes her skin crawl. As though sensing her discomfort he gives her a mild look. “I don’t take them out of the protective casing and I am wearing gloves,” something she notices with a small amount of relief.

 

“What do you have to learn from these books? What interest could the Galra have in a culture they destroyed centuries ago?”

 

Keith’s expression remains unchanged, “considering I was required to learn Altean? I’d imagine that there is a certain amount of interest.” He frowns down at the text in front of him, “I am starting to learn that no matter how good my tutelage too much has degraded over time.”

 

Allura’s lip curls in disgust, “there is nothing in those texts for you, why don’t you go where you’re wanted?”

 

Keith laughs at that, it’s a mean sound, harsh and bitter, “you won’t let me leave the castle. You showed you’d rather fly into a star than let me take it. You sealed up the Red Lion’s hangar like three times and I had to break out twice, and break in once. How’re those for reasons? I mean, in all fairness to you that second one is why you’re my favorite.”

 

Allura stops short at that, “what?!” This had to be some kind of trick, or some game, some new way to lead her up to an insult. One she just realized that she played right into.

 

Keith however waves his hand like her outburst was nothing to be concerned about, “you are distant, cold, and rude. You don’t try to tame me like some stray pet, you don’t try and start little games with me, and you don’t want to get to know me.”

 

“We are enemies, we are at war with the Empire you have sworn yourself too.” She responds coolly, because why in the cosmos would she ever try and befriend this creature?

 

His response is truly unnerving, he smiles broadly as though vindicated, “exactly! We’re enemies, we don’t share food and trade stories before sleeping. We try and put pointy things in each other until at least one of us stops moving. You don’t act like there’s anything else to our relationship than a lull between murder attempts.”

 

The worst thing about that is his logic almost makes sense to her in some warped way, “you must be joking. You cannot truly prefer my company because I cannot stand to look at you.”

 

Keith just holds his fond smile, “aw princess, you’re making me feel like I’m at home again.” He turns his attention back to the text, “at least with me you know what direction the knife is going to be coming from.”

 

Deciding that her original reason for coming, solitude, is more important and more pleasant than anything the Knight would have to offer Allura leaves.

****

 

 

Hunk sighs, letting Lance walk off with the third plate of food meant for their prisoner. Though if he’s being honest he’s having a hard time thinking of the half-Galra as their prisoner. He seems more like a stray cat than anything, haughty, proud, skittish, but also lonely and attention starved. He’s seen him run through the hallways, always near his machine, never going further from the sentry than he absolutely has to. He starts preparing another batch of food, maybe if he changes the setup of ingredients he’ll get better results.

 

“That will not work” a metallic voice from immediately behind him states.

 

Hunk nearly jumps out of his skin, “oh god killer robot right behind me!”

 

Niex is very hard to read, mostly because it doesn’t have a face but it seems to be evaluating him; “you are the purveyor of sustenance for the paladins correct?”

 

“Yeah, I mean, I guess I’m the chef.”

 

“I require your assistance then, his lordship has not been eating regularly, nor sufficiently.”

 

Hunk sighs hoping his heart calms down, “I kinda guessed, has he just been raiding the food goo dispenser?”

 

The machine pauses for a moment, it’s not acting hostile or threatening if anything it seems contemplative. Still the military posture it carries itself in is eerily reminiscent of its master. Probably picked up from him, although it seems to be acting on its own here. Which implies that it might be a true AI which Pidge would go crazy for if true. “You refer to the nutrient paste correct? Yes, but that is a short term solution and he risks malnutrition. Galra diets require high protein, high caloric diet with inclusions of taurine.”

 

Okay so maybe he’s not that far off with his stray cat analogy, “okay I can do that, I think...”

 

“There are several items present that would suffice and suit his lordship’s tastes.” The machine supplies, and despite Hunk having never heard the term “his lordship” used sincerely it doesn’t actually sound sarcastic.

 

“Right, except he’s refused to eat the last three meals I’ve left. I’m guessing he’ll just leave this one.” Hunk says, chuckling at the sheer absurdity of his situation having a talk with a sentry about how to feed a half-Galra paladin.

 

“Leave it in the refrigeration unit, do so with a note informing others that it is yours and not to be touched in no uncertain terms. He will accept it if he believes he is stealing from you.”

 

“That is the most needlessly complicated way to get someone to eat I have ever heard.” The machine doesn’t respond simply begins assembling ingredients.

 

“I will not allow my lord viscount to starve himself, malnutrition would be detrimental.”

****

 

 

Whilst Niex is distracted by his desire to ensure that his liege lord was going to be receiving adequate sustenance Pidge is enacting her own daring plan to capture their resident frenemy. Unfortunately the only person who she could rope into assisting her is Lance. “Alright Lance he still in the archive?” She whispers over her communication device.

  
“Yeah, you’re good to go.” She charges in and launches her bayard’s line at him, the Knight just swings out of his chair dodging her. He snarls summoning his bayard’s gun form and taking several shots that had she decided to press her attack and not run might have hit her.

 

Luckily her ploy seems to have worked with the Knight chasing after her. Once the reach a three way intersection Pidge shouts to Lance and a particle barrier springs up around the Knight who snarls at them while Pidge and Lance high five.

****

 

 

“He said that?” Shiro grimaces at Allura’s story. The Galra viewpoint is officially one he can’t wrap his head around. Coran however looks thoughtful stroking his mustache.

 

Allura nods, “I think we may need to find another candidate for the Red Lion this one is clearly too unstable to be relied upon.”

 

Coran seems to be about to reply when Pidge comes through the door, “I caught him! I caught Keith!”

****

 

 

Lance is left guarding the Knight who they’ve since managed to handcuff to a rail in what can only be a storage room of some sort. Lance stares down at him smug smile plastered across his face. “Watcha got to say for yourself now Keith?” Lance draws out his name with clear mocking relish.

 

“Pidge is certainly clever isn’t she?” Keith responds looking distinctly unimpressed.

 

“Pidge!? I’m the one who caught you!” Lance growls.

 

Keith looks bored, “congratulations, you can follow orders. You are now upgraded to sentry or possibly yupper. Maybe if you work really hard you can make it as high as ‘small child.’”  


Lance pulls out his bayard and growls down at Keith forgetting what Pidge had said about too close. “Wanna say that again buddy? All tied up like that you don’t seem too-” His bayard is knocked aside with a surprisingly forceful kick. Before he can recover the other leg hooks around him bringing him down low enough to be put in a choke hold with the Knight’s legs.

 

“You talk too much.”

****

 

Opening the doors to the improvised holding cell they’ve managed to secure Keith in Pidge is greeted with a sight that is, in word, embarrassing. “I really should have expected this to happen,” she grumbles with her head in her hand. She glares at Lance, “I told you not to get too close to him Lance, I explicitly said keep your distance.”

 

Lance makes indignant choking noises while thrashing against the legs currently wrapped around his throat. Keith looks nonplussed being tugged on by his prisoner while handcuffed to a rail. “Release me or I break his neck.” Pidge looks completely affronted, “NO! Not after all the work I put into catching you.”

 

Lance makes a strangled noise that can easily be translated as _Pidge what the hell? Not the important thing here!_ For his part Keith looks mildly inconvenienced and starts twisting Lance’s head to an awkward angle.

  
Shiro decides to step in here, “alright listen, let Lance go and we’ll see about getting you out of here.”

 

“I want the Red Lion’s hanger open and a wormhole to the destination of my choosing. Blue is mine until I get this.” Keith replies sternly.

 

“We can’t do that and you know that, for many reasons,” Shiro says pinching the bridge of his nose. “How about an exchange? You trust me to make good on my word right?” Shiro asks, Keith raises an eyebrow, “you have not given me sufficient reason to believe otherwise.” Then his eyes narrow and he adds a “yet” to the end of that sentence.

 

“I’ll give you your bayard, release Lance and you can keep me as your hostage,” Shiro says.

 

Pidge growls, “Shiro no!” at the same time Keith shrugs, “agreeable.”

 

“Pidge hand me his bayard when he releases Lance I want you to get him out to Coran and Allura.”

  
Once the tense negotiation is complete, despite the awkward position of one party’s legs being wrapped around the hostage’s head. Keith’s handcuffs are deactivated he releases Lance, immediately pointing his bayard at Shiro. Lance flees behind Pidge and the two back out of the door.

 

Outside Coran and Allura are waiting, “where’s Shiro?” Allura asks voice angry.

 

“He exchanged himself for the dumbass here who managed to get himself taken hostage, again.” Pidge deadpans glaring at Lance.

 

“How was I supposed to know he’s flexible like a cat?!” Lance shouts back at her.

 

“Right this has gone far enough, you all go on back to your rooms” says Coran who pulls something that looks like a compact pistol from his belt before marching into the room with Shiro and their not-quite-prisoner.

****

 

 

Coran marches through the door and holds the Altean weapon on the Knight who responds with his Bayard’s pistol from. The two stare at each other for a tense minute. Shiro stiffens as Keith’s finger twitches at his weapon’s trigger.

 

“What do you want?” The Knight hisses.

 

“I am willing to propose a ceasefire, and exchange.” Coran replies.

 

Keith inclines his head in question, “At gun point?”

 

“Did you really think I would come to negotiate with an enemy general unarmed?”

 

Keith squares his shoulders, in Shiro realizes, pride. “State your terms.”

 

“Exchange of information and combat training for the others.”

 

The Knight raises a brow, “what information and are you sure you’d trust me around the children with weapons?”  


“Only if you give your word as a general of the Empire and a member of House Hazar.” Coran replies his stance unwavering.

 

“What would I be getting out of this?”

  
“One varga unrestricted access to the kitchens and one varga unrestricted access to the wash rooms at the time of your choosing.”

 

“I want bridge access,” Keith responds eyes are narrowed.

 

“No dice,” Coran says his own expression growing suspicious in response.

 

“It doesn’t have to be unrestricted, provide me with access to the bridge and I will agree to your terms.”

 

“You’ll be locked out of navigation, weapons, and communications.”

 

“Of course,” Keith’s expression turns into an easy smile “if you keep your end of this then yes you have my word as a general and as viscount of House Hazar that I will respect the bond between mentor and student. As for information there are things I won’t tell you, understand that I will keep my right not to answer everything.”

 

Coran lowers his weapon, Keith does the same “we are agreed then.”

****

 

 

Once they are out of earshot Shiro rounds on Coran, “I thought you wanted him to join up eventually?!”

 

“Oh I do, and I think that training will be an excellent starting point. Considering that now that he’s agreed to take on the role of teacher he’s bound by honor not to endanger his student’s lives. Certainly glad he clarified that caveat on his own otherwise I wouldn’t have been sure that bit of Galra propriety had survived.” Coran replies smiling enthusiastically.

 

Shiro decides not to comment on that particular gamble, instead deciding to address the other issue. “I might not understand Galra culture but holding him at gunpoint seems pretty damn counter intuitive.”

 

Coran smiles, “oh he wouldn’t have taken the offer seriously without the threat, besides, this isn’t a gun, it’s a handheld thermometer. I must say I’m glad he didn’t recognize that!” Shiro gapes.

 

“You’ll probably want to wrangle the rest of the paladins we’re going to start training soon since everyone clearly has some energy they need to burn off.” Coran says while turning on his heel and striding confidently down the hallways whistling to himself leaving an open mouthed Shiro to watch him leave.

****

 

 

Two hours after that debacle Lance has been cleared not even bearing a bruise from his encounter. Shiro has assembled the paladins together, “Coran has an announcement to make” he says leading them to the training deck.

 

Coran greets them with a smile outside the arena-like room, “Right. Well with the castle still going through a massive debug there’s a chance the gladiator systems are still corrupted. Because of that we don’t want to pit you against a Galra corrupted gladiator eh?” Coran is acting too cheerful.

 

Hunk leans over to Pidge, “why don’t I like where this is going?”

 

“But of course as paladins you still need combat training!” Coran continues willfully unaware of the growing discontent.

 

Pidge looks at Hunk, “because you have basic survival instincts.”

 

“Luckily for you all Shiro and I managed to work out an arrangement to get a special combat instructor!”

 

“This isn’t what I think it is? Is it?” Hunk’s in a near panic.

 

As though punctuating the answer to Hunk’s question the captured Galra general strides onto the training deck shortly after the group. Arriving like some sort of royal, all cold imperial grace and aloof attitude.

 

“Yep, it’s exactly what you think it is,” Pidge deadpans.

 

“It only cost us one varga of kitchen and washroom use, I’ll post the updated availability.” Coran says with way too much cheer to be natural.

 

“Uh, can we maybe skip training, or do the rogue gladiator instead? Because those sound like better options.” Lance says crossing his arms.

 

Coran looks to Keith, “maybe some words of wisdom to put your pupils at ease?”

 

Keith looks them over, cracks his neck, smiles brightly and says, “make peace with your gods, for today you die.”

 

Lance steps forward, “oh you think you’re so good don’t you, think you’re better than us?”

 

“Do you think you’re human? No it’s something you know.” Keith replies, “Just like I _know_ I’m better than you.”

 

“You wanna go?” Lance shouts.

 

Keith shifts his stance slightly, and then beckons Lance to him, “you’ve been at my mercy three times now, let’s see what you’ve learned.” Hunk and Pidge share a look Shiro’s already got his head in his hands, even Coran’s endless optimism seems to falter.

 

Not much has been learned it turns out, because Lance charges Keith whose movements become fluid, shifting around Lance and then striking the back of his neck leaving him on the ground twitching slightly. “Make that four times.”

 

He looks over the group, “with the exception of Takashi you are all worthless in battle. Even you Pidge, you will not always have the element of surprise or injury. If you don’t want to survive a real encounter then I suppose it’s hardly any inconvenience to me. I’m here and my end of the bargain is fulfilled, so you may walk out that door at any time. If however you want to live to see, well, not the end of this war, but to at least be slain by Zarkon himself. Then you should try to pay attention.”

 

****

 

 

Nearly three hours later and with only occasional interference from Shiro the other three paladins a groaning on the floor. The viscount leaning back and forth with barely contained impatience. He prods them each with a foot and is met with a halfhearted attempt to smack him by Lance, Hunk and Pidge just glare.

 

Satisfied he grabs a towel “I’ll be using my varga in the showers now thank you very much Coran,” this is met with angry groans from the paladins around him. Keith shoots them a smirk, “you may have the showers first when you defeat me. Think of it as motivation.” Turning on his heel in one jaunty movement to prove he still has energy to spare Keith strides back out of the training deck and towards the showers.


	10. Captured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad decisions, bad decisions for everyone, all around bad decisions!

Keith easily dodging Lance’s most recent attack grabs the other paladin’s wrist tossing him into Hunk who trips and falls over his teammate. Pidge lunges at him moving quickly from low to high strikes, impressed with her ferocity Keith moves into a less defensive stance set. Using his footwork he quickly over powers her, however her distraction serves well enough to allow Lance to get in a strike. Keith counters with a blow of his own this one to Lance’s solar plexus.

 

“Good I will have a bruise tomorrow” he says looking down at the paladins around him. Lance glowers at him, “oh good, one bruise to our like fifty.”

 

Keith shrugs, “that’s one more bruise than you’ve yet put on me before now. Besides your sore bruised bodies will motivate you not to be hit in future.”

 

Coran enters the training deck “alright paladins now that combat training’s done it’s time for your bonding exercises!” He’s met with a chorus of groans, and one disinterested look, “pass.”

 

“Ah, nope, none of that now number four,” Keith arcs an eyebrow at him, “I have you ranked by height.”

 

“Ha ha, Keith’s number four,” Lance’s voice pipes up from the floor. Keith smiles over at him, “and yet you only manage one blow.”

 

Then he smiles more widely when Pidge puts Lance in a lock that he recognizes, “what’s wrong with being short Lance?” She growls in his ear.

 

“Ack, nothing, nothing’s wrong with that, did I imply anything wrong with that? Not my intent!”

 

She then glares up at Keith, “you owe us though Keith, we gotta train so do you.” An unstated demand for information and an underlying her threat.

 

“Fine.” Keith sighs being completely uninterested in the door to Red’s hangar being electrified… Again.

****

 

 

Keith watches as the group has one image after another projected, Takashi’s is of himself in a chaste yet clearly romantic situation with another human. Lance is thinking of his family, and Hunk of his, the two motivated by heroism and love for their homeworld. A sentiment Keith can respect even if it is the source of their being at odds.

 

Pidge thinks of her brother, and of Keith’s words about him during their brief conflict. Keith decides to give her what she wants, but limits the images to his first kills during their encounter and his brief fight with Matt. Pidge leaps to her feet, “what did you do to him!?”

 

“We fought, don’t worry though, fortunately for you he lives,” then thinking for a moment he adds an addendum, “or he was alive when I left him. Who knows now though, considering a rebel’s life is very dangerous.”

 

Takashi puts a hand on Pidge’s shoulder, then glares at Keith, “that was unnecessary.”

 

Keith puts his chin on his hand, “would you have believed me without seeing it yourself?” Hunk frowns, “I mean, I get your point, but that’s cold man.”

 

Keith’s expression returns to it’s usual masked neutrality, “I am a soldier, you saw my memories, what do you expect?” Keith clears his mind, exhaling and then cycles through his experiences on the front using the crown to share the full extent of them not restricting himself to mere images. With satisfaction he can hear Hunk gag and make a mad dash over to a nearby waste bin to vomit as the scent of ozone, burnt flesh, and spilled blood hits the paladins. The cacophony of explosions, screams, and suffering that makes up the song of war.

 

Roughly he’s dragged to his feet by Takashi who shouts at him, “THAT’S ENOUGH!” He looks up at the older man through hooded lids watching taking note of his face which is pale and streaked with sweat his crown discarded too. Keith slaps Takashi’s hands away, “that’s the reality of war. They have to deal with it sooner or later. Either they learn from pain, or they are destroyed, that is what it means to be a soldier. The only thing you’re doing by coddling them is setting them up to die.”

 

Walking away from the group he’s left wondering why it is that Takashi always seems so distressed by trials. It doesn’t matter he decides, he made an oath, and he will not dishonor himself by allowing these children to enter the fray untested and untrained.

****

 

 

Pidge is mentally cataloging everything she’s learned from Keith, he’s mean spirited, and cruel but never pointlessly so. She learned that training with him, he’ll feint and strike to cripple and end a fight fast. Or hurt one of them to make the others angry and sloppy. He’ll take the showers immediately after training and claim the kitchen when he knows they want it specifically to goad them into beating him. But he’ll contrary to Lance’s whining, which he is currently doing, he never causes pain just to cause pain. Something about his honor as their combat instructor. Most of Coran’s explanation had gone over her head, she has enough issues with human social norms, trying to figure out a literal aliens? Not happening, at least not anytime soon.

 

So what had she learned from this, she’d seen her brother, who she thought was a prisoner, he’s out fighting alongside rebels, just like she is. That’s a huge lead in and of itself, instead of prison records she needs to check wanted lists. It doesn’t tell her anything about her father though, Shiro said he’d been separated from he and Matt. She also knows that Keith and Matt have fought, she can’t help but wonder how much about his opponent Matt knew when they were fighting.

 

Keith could be lying about him being alive but that doesn’t feel right. She wonders if she’s not just buying into a false hope. Lance is complaining loudly about Keith, Hunks just been quiet for the whole duration. She didn’t get treated to the full sensory experience of what the others had, just the few images that had been projected in front of him. Those had been enough, “good thing I have all this data to go over.” She mumbles to herself checking the information from the cruiser against the information from Sendak’s memories.

 

A few hours later Lance has stalked off in a huff having ranted himself out. Hunk just keeps watching her, re-calibrating stuff when she asks. “So why do you think he showed us that stuff?” Hunk breaks the silence, Pidge finds herself shrugging, “who knows, he probably thinks he’s preparing us to deal with that.” Hunk fidgets with the drive core he’d been tinkering with, “how long ago do you think that battle was? I mean he’s like our age right?”

 

That’s a line of thinking she’d been actively not thinking, because sure it explains a lot but part of that makes him sympathetic and the thought of sympathizing with him makes her ill. The memory rises again, the assassin trying to kill her, the fear, the determination, finally the thrill of killing before being killed. That had been his memory not hers. “Who knows why the Galra do anything, just goes to show they’re a fucked up society that produces fucked up people.” Hunk frowns, clearly not satisfied with that response but she’s done with this line of thinking.

 

Her programs finally reveal a location important enough for Sendak to remember and to be heavily encrypted in the ship’s system. “Gotcha,” she smiles.

****

 

Keith arrives on the bridge to find the rest of the assembled paladins all giving him differing looks. Lance is angry, Pidge projects a calm detached facade but she’s never letting him out of her field of view. Allura looks suitably imperious as usual. This he’s decided is an improvement, they are finally starting to understand their positions in this war. Hunk is wary of him but still eyes him with naked curiosity. Takashi, he simply looks disappointed which frustrates him. Takashi should be the one who is as aware of the threat he poses as the princess so having him give him the same look Thace gets when he does something considered ‘excessive’ is just annoying.

 

Allura turns the full force of her glare on him, “we are approaching a location, all information suggests this is a hidden base.” Her gaze flicks to the viewing screen. Keith arcs a brow then turns to examine the location in question. “A galactic hub, interesting, those aren’t usually hidden. Out of the way perhaps but not overly secure.”

 

Allura eyes him, “You do not know what this one is used for?”

 

Keith considers their opinions ultimately responding with “Sendak was a High Commander, head of one of the Houses and Zarkon’s right hand he was privy to much that I was not. Even a year under his command won’t change that.”

 

Pidge glares at him, “like we’ll believe you.”

 

Keith shrugs and marches over to the view screens hands clasped behind his back, “believe what you want, if I’m telling the truth I don’t know what this base is. And if I’m lying then I will not tell you what this base is. Either way there’s only one way you’ll get the information you want. Or you could turn tail here, either way my position will remain the same. A prisoner on this ship.”

 

He can see Takashi frown, he’s been trying to encourage them to work together. None of them like being so at odds with someone who looks so human. Not to mention that without him they wont form Voltron more than the once. This means he still has some form of leverage, it will have to do. Still he’ll forestall the lecture he’s sure to get for providing nothing, so instead he rolls his eyes and says “it could be anything, prototype transport, sensitive materials, high priority prisoners, or a fuel refinery.”

****

 

 

Coran finds himself alone with their prisoner who’s sitting in the red paladin seat on the bridge one leg crossed over the other. He’s observing the others on their mission with a contemplative look. It had been a surprise for Keith to agree with him on Allura. He’d nearly had a heart attack when she’d announced that she would infiltrate the ship with Shiro. Keith had responded with “it’s a stupid risk for you to go with in this, even with your camouflage you wont be able to access any of the systems. You aren’t Galra no matter how you may look.”

 

When the two of them had been overruled Keith had just shrugged like it was no concern, Coran could tell he’s frustrated. Like having his council ignored was not unexpected, or something he’s not experienced with, but like it’s a persistent ache that he has to live with every day. “I’m guessing that Sendak wasn’t exactly a commander open to suggestions from his subordinates?”

 

Keith lets out a low huff, almost a laugh, “not his _beliak_ subordinates at any rate.” Coran flinches, “that’s an ugly way of putting it.”

 

At that Keith actually does laugh, “it’s an insult to be sure but it means they don’t think much of me. Commanders are only a threat when they’re smart enough to whisper the word behind my back. That’s when the assassins start showing up. Still if you are taking advice from a filthy Galra, this whole plan is stupid. If Takashi’s arm was registered by the Drule before they attached it, or even after, then there’s a chance it will trip a security alarm.”

 

Coran balks, “you didn’t think to bring that up before now?”

 

Keith’s tone remains dismissive but there’s also a great deal of bitterness in it “I did point out that this whole endeavor was a monumentally stupid operation. I shouldn’t be responsible for pointing out things that you all, as this oh so vaunted resistance devoted to ending Zarkon’s reign, should have already considered. I am your enemy, not your chief strategist.”

 

As if to prove his point the Galra cruiser begins to take off after an alarm is sounded and the whole base goes into alert. Coran immediately goes to retrieve the escape pod jettisoned from it. He doesn’t miss that Keith instead of looking smug is already opening the Green Lion’s hangar for the rest of the paladins.

****

 

 

Shiro returns without Allura, “where’s Allura!?”

 

“She was captured so I could escape, we’re going after her,” his voice is firm. Keith scowls, “and deliver yourselves right into Zarkon’s hands? No.”

 

Coran rounds on him, “you do not get a say in this young man!”

 

Lance pipes up, “yeah, you can shut your quiznack if you’re going to be like that.” Keith rubs his temples, “that’s not how you- no, fine you want to deliver the universe to an eternity of Zarkon’s rule fine. I told you this mission was stupid, that it was a fools errand for Allura to go on it. I told Coran exactly why this was a bad decision. You should have considered that! Now your planning on rushing in, no plan, no regard? Whatever, but if Zarkon seizes the Black Lion then only one of this merry little band has a chance to live long enough to laugh about it.” With that Keith turns to stalk off the bridge.

 

“We’ll need Voltron,” Shiro states, and Keith freezes, he turns just enough to look Shiro dead in the eye and coldly state, “Voltron will not save you if you bring the Black Lion to Zarkon.”

****

 

 

Trapped in the bowels of Central Command Allura sighs and leans back against her cell, she’s expecting a torturer, an interrogation, something once Zarkon realizes his trap has failed. What she isn’t expecting is an older Galra woman leaning on a cane to enter her cell.

 

Despite her age and the lines weariness etched into her face her bearing is regal and poised. She reminds Allura of the old Altean nobility more than the savagery of the Galra.

 

She stares down with cold disdain though, no, that’s not quite it Allura realizes, there’s true burning hatred there. “Do you know who I am princess?”

 

“Can’t say that I do.”

  
“I am the matriarch of one of the High Houses, I am here to tell you that we are at war, there are casualties in war. Your first victory against the Empire, do you remember what it was?”

 

“The destruction of Sendak’s warship, or do you mean ten thousand deca-phoebs ago?”

 

“My grandson was on Sendak’s ship, he would have just turned eighteen, grown by the standards of his father’s species, but a child to us. I raised him from the time he could barely walk, he is,” she takes a breath and Allura sees the shine of tears that will never be seen falling, especially not by an enemy. “He was, as much my child as my daughter’s. You have stolen that from me,” she leans over the princess, a domineering presence, “Zarkon’s edict is the only reason I haven’t ripped your throat out.”

 

Allura backs a little further against the wall wishing she could just melt into it.

 

“Your friends will come for you the Emperor says, good, I have pledged my House’s fleet to this, every single ambitious toad that I can muster from our ranks. The minute they enter the system, your ship will be blown to cosmic dust. Then, I will get to kill you, Zarkon’s edict be damned, but you will get to watch your friends die first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sendak: Temple Grounds, Metroid Prime Echoes ost
> 
> The Blood Knight: Darth Revan Theme, Lucas King
> 
> Dread Wings of War: Rage of the Shadow Warriors
> 
> Red Vs. Black: To Be King, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood ost
> 
> Honor of the Galra: Heart of Justice
> 
> Into the Heart of a Star: Song of the Ancients, Atonement, Neir Automata ost
> 
> Pallen Bol: Olympus Coliseum Fight, Kingdom Hearts ost
> 
> The Hidden Base: Ambiance Snare, Beyond Good and Evil ost
> 
> Dorma and Allura: After All, Ever After


End file.
